UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


[HARRIS,  Joel  Chandler].  Putnam  County, 
Georgia.  A  Guide  to  Immigration.  Edited  by  D.  T. 
Singleton.  Illustrated,  original  printed  wrappers. 
Atlanta,  1895.  $9.00 

Contains  a  three-page  article  by  the  famous  Southern  au- 
thor entitled  "  'Uncle  Remus'  Has  a  Word  to  Say  of 
Putnam  As  It  Was  and  Is."  Illustrating  the  text  is  a 
portrait  of  Harris  and  a  drawing  of  "Uncle  Remus."  1st 
ed.  of  an  interesting  Uncle  Remus  item. 


ft  Quide  to  Immigration 


THE  LEADING  COUNTY  IN  THE  STATE  IN  THE  DAIRYING  INDUSTRY. 
AND  IN  THE   IMPROVEMENT  OF  LIVE  STOCK. 


Tft 


A  GUIDE  TO  IMMIGRATION. 


PUTNAM  COUNTY,  GEORGIA 

AND  ITS  RESOURCES. 

THE  LEADING  COUNTY  IN  THE  STATE  IN  THE  DAIRYING  INDUSTRY, 
AND  IN  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  LlVE  STOCK. 


COMPILED    AND    EDITED    BY 

D.  T.  SINGLETON, 

WIULARD,  PUTNAM    COUNTY,  GA. 


ALL  INQUIRIES  ADDRESSED  TO  THE   CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THIS   PAMPHLET,  AT 
EATONTON,  GA.,  WILL  RECEIVE  PROMPT  AND  CAREFUL  REPLY 


ATLANTA,  GA.: 
METHODIST  BOOK  &  PUBLISHING  CO. 

1S95. 


CONTRIBUTORS. 

B.  W.  HUNT. 

H.  R.  DE  JARNETT. 

R.  B.  NISBET,  M.  D 

DR.  J.  D.  WEAVER. 

M.  R.  HUDSON. 

M   B.  DENNIS,    SCHOOL  COM, 

WM.  H.  HEARN,  ROAD  COM. 

E.  M.  BROWN. 

JUDGE  J.  S.  TURNER. 

JUDGE  W.  F.  JENKINS. 


COUNTY  COURT  HOUSE,  EATONTON.    BUILT  1810. 


COUNTY  GOVERNMENT,  1895. 


Judge  of  the  County  Court W.  B.  WINGFIELD. 

Judge  of  the  Court  of  Ordinary I.  H.  ADAMS. 

Clerk  of  the  Superior  Court J.  W.  ADAMS. 

Sheriff R.  J.  TERRELL. 

Tax  Collector J.  C.  REID. 

Tax  Receiver W.  H.  CLOPTON. 

County  Surveyor H.  R.  PINKERTON. 

Treasurer W.  L.  TURNER. 

Coroner J.  KNOWLES. 

Commissioners  of  Roads  and  Revenues. 

W.  H.  HEARN,  CHAIRMAN. 
K.  D.  LITTLE,  I.  G.  SCOTT. 

County   School  Commissioner. 
M.  B.  DENNIS. 

Board    of   Education. 

DR.  R.  B.  NISBET, 

DR.  N.  S.  WALKER,  H.  R.  DEJARNETT, 

W.  B.  WINGFIELD,  D.  R.  ADAMS. 

4<S1 1 44 


Prefatory  Note. 


We  have  made  no  effort  to  present  a  list  and  description  of  lands  for  sale  in  this  county.  It  is  better 
that  the  visitor  make  a  general  inspection  and  select  a  particular  locality  in  which  he  may  wish  to  reside. 

Our  plantations  are  too  large  even  for  the  profitable  production  of  cotton,  and  the  general  desire  is  to 
sell  a  part  to  energetic,  intelligent  and  progressive  farmers  from  the  northern  sections.  We  need  a  larger 
population,  not  a  better  location  in  any  respect.  We  think  that  the  development  of  our  agriculture  will  keep 
pace  with  the  increase  of  white  population,  and  that  other  wealth-producing  industries  will  be  stimulated  by 
its  prosperous  condition.  But  it  is  essential  that  whoever  cultivates  the  soil  should  be  identified  with  it, 
by  ownership,  and  by  the  stronger  ties  and  influence  of  a  home  upon  it. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  such  a  condition  does  not  more  generally  prevail  in  the  South.  Its  absence  is 
conspicuous  in  the  "wear  and  tear,"  the  waste,  and  in  a  pervading  aspect  of  improvidence  and  discomfort  of 
what  is  termed  a  tenant  system.  The  immigration  of  a  kindred  people,  together  with  an  organized  effort  on 
our  part,  to  provide  a  plan  by  which  our  landless  friends  here  can  acquire  a  freehold,  will  in  corresponding 
degree,  check  a  fatal  retrograding  tendency. 

Domiciliation  is  the  only  base  upon  which  can  be  built  an  enduring  fabric  of  social  order  and  good  gov- 
ernment. The  desire  for  repose  and  security  under  one's  own  "vine  and  figtree,"  is  an  instinct  of  our  animal 
nature.  When  disregarded,  or  ignored,  it  becomes  a  dangerous  element  in  human  character. 

Our  Plantation  life  is  similar  in  some  respects  to  its  condition  before  the  war.  The  planter 
abides  in  quiet  and  security  among  his  dependents,  the  colored  people — the  "monarch  of  all  he  surveys." 
The  unrestraint  and  independence  of  such  a  life  will  be  surrendered  with  much  reluctance  by  both  land- 
lord and  laborer  if  demanded  in  the  transformation  of  the  ' '  New  South. ' ' 

There  is  a  charm  even  in  a  "counterfeit  presentment"  of  the  "old-time"  Southern  home,  so  sacred  to  us 
in  its  traditions,  and  the  true  picture  of  which  is  so  fondly  preserved  in  song  and  story. 


PREFATORY   NOTE.  5 

Our  present  system  of  labor,  when  more  carefully  utilized,  will  prove  to  be  the~leading  factor  in  our 
future  progress.  It  is  incomparably  better  than  any  that  prevails  in  other  sections,  or  other  countries.  The 
colored  citizens  of  Putnam  county  are  law-abiding,  and  proverbially  peaceful  and  contented.  In  all  social 
relations,  as  distinct  from  the  white  race  as  if  a  sea  divided  them ;  yet  in  business  intercourse,  confiding, 
eager  to  be  instructed  and  led,  respectful,  and  in  full  sympathy  with  every  effort  to  promote  the  general 
welfare. 

When  our  farms  are  largely  reduced  in  acreage,  the  lands  may  be  preserved  and  enriched;  for  with  a 
limited  area  under  cultivation,  and  a  growing  population  to  be  fed  from  it,  a  greater  fertility  is  demanded. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  wealth  and  comfort  of  any  rural  community  increases  as'the  size  of  the  farms 
diminish.  We  can  desire  nothing  better  for  our  county  than  a  test  of  this  assumption  by  an  extended 
experiment,  with  an  area  in  cultivation  so  limited  as  to  allow  the  owner  the  opportunity  to  protect  the  soil 
from  washing  rains  as  well  as  from  too  much  bare  exposure  to  the  scorching  sunshine,  and  by  a  regular  rota- 
tion of  crops  and  artificial  manuring,  to  increase  each  year  its  fertility. 

When  the  "little  farm  well  tilled"  is  no  longer  an  anomaly  in  this  section.of  the  South,  we  can  boast  of  a 
brighter  landscape  and  more  evidences  of  thrift  and  pi'Ogress . 

The  preparation  of  this  pamphlet  was  deferred  until  the  "eleventh  hour,"  and  as  it  was  designed  in 
form  and  size,  for  convenient  distribution  among  visitors  at  the  "Cotton  States  and  International  Exposi- 
tion," the  space  provided  was  too  limited  for  any  attempt  to  treat  the  subject-matter  comprehensively.  The 
articles  were  hastily  written,  and  are  necessarily  incomplete;  but  we  hope  that  our  object  will,  in  a  great 
measure,  be  attained,  if  whoever  shall  receive  a  copy,  and  may  desire  to  settle  in  Georgia,  will  understand 
that  it  introduces  him  to  the  contributors,  singly  and  severally;  that  he  has  access  to  them  at  any  time,  and 
that  he  may  rely  on  their  assistance  in  his  effort  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  country;  and  furthermore, 
that  there  accompanies  each  copy  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit  our  county,  to  test  our  hospitality,  to  meet  in 
social  intercourse  our  people,  and  with  every  facility  afforded,  to  examine  the  many  natural  advantages 
claimed  for  this  immediate  section.  THEJEDITOR 

Willard,  Putnam  County,  Ga.,  Sept.  1,  1895, 


DAIRYING  INDUSTRY. 


Improvement  of  Livestock,  Grasses  and  Forage  Crops. 
BY  B.  W.  HUNT. 

The  old  Romans  condensed  much  wisdom  in  the  few  words,  "By  the  herd  we  thrive." 
tain  it  is  without  the  herd  civilization  has  never  been  attained  by  any  people.     The  first 
tion  asked  by  any  intelligent  inquirer  into  the  soil,  cli- 
mate and  conditions  of  a  country  in  which  he  thinks  of 
settling  permanently  is,  "  Is  the  country  adapted  to  the 
production  of  the  best  domestic  farm  animals?"     If  this 
question  be  answered  in  the  negative,  then  successful 
farming,  as  understood  by  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  is  there  impossible. 

Fortunately  for  Putnam  County  an  affirmative  an- 
swer to  this  vital  question  can  truthfully  be  given. 
Here  have  been  raised  successfully  race  horses,  beef 
cattle  and  dairy  cows,  not  mentioning  the  most  valuable 
factor  in  cotton  raising,  the  mule.  I  give  the  planters 
of  Middle  Georgia  no  information  when  I  say,  what 
everyone  already  knows,  that  the  Northern-raised  mule 
is  not  equal  in  efficiency  to  the  home-raised  animal. 


Cer- 

ques- 


Dairy  at  Panola  Farm. 


HOTEL  PUTNAM,  EATONTON,  GA. 


RAILROAD  DEPOT,  EATONTOX,  GA. 


DAIRYING    INDUSTRY.  9 

In  dairy  cattle  the  improvement  in  Putnam  County  within  the  last  twenty  years  has  been 
remarkable.  Before  that  date  on  the  fewest  farms  only  could  good  milk  cows  be  found.  Those 
whose  yield  was  sufficiently  large  to  be  profitable  were  called  English  stock,  most  of  them  car- 
rying the  blood  of  the  Shorthorn. 

Twenty  years  ago  the  first  Jerseys  were  introduced,  with  the  result  of  improvement  beyond 
the  most  extravagant  anticipations.  Now,  beside  the  stateliest  mansion  or  the  humblest  cabin 
is  seen  the  crumpled-horn  and  mealy-nose  of  the  Jersey  cow.  From  a  few  thoroughbred  herds, 
as  centres,  has  proceeded  this  revolution. 

Putnam,  that  formerly  imported  Northern  butter,  now  exports  about  fifty  thousand  pounds 
per  annum.  To  find  a  dairy  cow  near  Eatonton  as  poor  as  the  average  of  twenty  years  ago  is 
almost  impossible.  This,  I  think,  sufficiently  answers  the  question  the  intelligent  prospective 
settler  will  ask  regarding  live  stock. 

An  accidental  importation  from  Southern  Asia  of  the  so-called  Bermuda  Grass,  Cynondon 
Doctylon,  has  proven  the  most  beneficent  factor  to  the  dairyman  and  stock-raiser.  Whether 
self-planted  in  his  green  pastures,  daily  grazed  by  horned  cattle,  horses  or  sheep,  or  whether 
mown  and  cured  for  winter  hay,  this  grass  has  no  rival  in  Middle  Georgia  as  a  forage  plant. 
Long  despised,  feared,  and  cursed  as  the  enemy  of  the  cotton  planter,  worse  than  all  other  nox- 
ious weeds  in  his  eyes,  it  has  grown  in  the  estimation  of  the  better  informed  to  be  one  worth 
the  ground  it  occupies.  Not  many  years  ago  plantations  in  which  Bermuda  had  found  lodge- 
ment, were  abandoned  by  their  owners  in  consequence  of  the  increased  tillage  necessary  to  make 
a  crop;  now  on  Bermuda  grass  land  is  made  large  and  most  profitable  crops  of  cotton,  maise  and 


10 


DAIRYING    INDUSTRY. 


small  grain.  The  increased  cultivation  necessary  to  keep  the  grass  in  check  insures  a  crop  not 
only  larger,  but  also  more  profitable.  Here,  as  often  elsewhere,  what  proves  so  pleasing  to  the 
eye — and  I  know  of  nothing  more  beautiful  than  a  Bermuda  grass  park  stocked  with  the  finest 
cattle — is  most  profitable  to  the  husbandman.  Not  only  remunerative  in  the  present,  but  con- 
servative of  the  land  for  the  future,  which  preservation  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  cultivated 
is  an  unquestioned  duty  the  present  occupant  of  land  owes  to  futurity.  A  remarkable  parallel 
is  found  in  the  fear  entertained  by  the  early  Indiana  settlers  of  Blue  Grass,  which  they  vainly 

tried  to  exterminate  from  their  farms.     To  them  this        

grass  remains,  as  Bermuda  with  us,  their  most  valuable 
forage  plant.  Its  tenacity  of  life  on  suitable  soil  there 
has  outlived,  as  has  Bermuda  here,  the  enmity  of  those 
it  would  befriend. 

Indigenous  grasses  abound  in  Georgia  and  were 
the  foundation  of  the  live  stock  industry  before  the 
blessing  of  exotic  Bermuda  came  amongst  us.  That 
staple  food  of  the  red  Indian,  maize,  furnished  the 
almost  exclusive  winter  substance  of  domestic  animals 
before  the  introduction  of  Bermuda  grass  and  mowing 
machines,  which,  taken  together,  enable  the  horse  with 
a  little  intelligent  management  on  the  part  of  man,  to 
save  more  winter  forage  in  a  few  hours  than  all  the 
blades  of  maize  several  hands  could  gather  in  as  many 


Private  Park  near  Eatonton. 


MADISON  STREET,  EATONTON,  GA. 


STREET  SCENE  DURING  THE  COTTON  SEASON  IN  EATONTON.  GA. 


DAIRYING   INDUSTRY.  13 

•days.  Our  corn,  the  maize  of  botanists,  is  the  most  beautiful  forage  plant  that  grows,  and  furn- 
ishes here,  as  elsewhere  on  this  continent,  our  cheapest  grain,  shortening  its  summer  growth 
irom  the  equator  to  Alaska  to  fit  the  summer  solstice.  The  European,  man  or  norse,  who  knows 
not  maize  is  truly  deserving  of  pity  from  all  Americans.  Let  no  stranger  be  disappointed  because 
he  does  not  find  the  Kentucky  Blue  Grass,  the  Rhode  Island  Bent  Grass,  or  New  York  Timothy, 
in  the  perfection  of  their  home.  They  can  be  raised,  it  is  true,  but  not  so  perfectly  as  our 
Bermuda,  Crab  Grass,  Burr-clover,  Lespedeza  Striata,  Johnson  Grass,  and  many  other  either  in- 
digenous or  exotic  grasses  and  clovers.  The  Cow  Pea  here  is  to  the  grain  dairyman  what  the 
maize  plant  was  to  the  Indian — the  one  plant  whereby  he  can  be  almost  independent  of  all 
-others.  No  land  is  too  poor  to  raise  it,  no  better  butter  can  be  made  than  from  cows  fed  on 
it,  as  both  hay  and  grain.  No  field  planted  with  it  that  is  not  left  richer  after  the  crop  is 
gathered. 

I  but  write  my  own  experience  when  I  say  permanent  pastures  support  more  cattle  each 
succeeding  year  without  re-seeding  or  re-planting;  that  Jerseys  are  yearly  improving  here  as 
•dairy  cattle  as  they  adjust  themselves  to  the  conditions.  The  outlook  to  the  raiser  of  improved 
livestock  twenty  years  ago  offered  but  a  bare  possibility  of  what  the  present  shows  to  be  an 
assured  fact.  There  is  no  question  but  that  the  future  of  this  country  shall  become  largely  what 
we  of  the  present  labor  to  make  it.  In  this  I  approach  so  near  the  domain  of  the  coming  ethical 
prophet  that  he  can  finish  what  I  have  but  begun. 

I  feel  safe  in  asserting  that  there  is  no  other  food  as  cheap  for  live  stock  as  the  grass  which 
they  gather  for  themselves,  in  Putnam  County.  A  dairyman  can  depend  on  grazing,  without 


14  DAIRYING    INDUSTRY. 

other  forage  for  cattle,  from  April  Q  to  October  31,  a  period  of  205  days.  This  leaves  only  i 
days  of  the  year  requiring  the  feeding  of  hay.  I  should  say  good  feeding  in  winter  would  c 
14  cents  each  a  day  for  milk  cows,  say  $22.40  cents,  as  against  3  cents  per  day  for  205  days 
summer  grazing,  $6.15,  making  the  yearly  keep  of  a  milk  cow  $28.55. 

If  we  realize  300  pounds  butter  per  year  per  cow  at  25  cents  per  pound  (the  usual  pr 
here)  the  income  will  be  $75  gross,  or  $46.45  per  cow  net,  not  counting  anything  for  incre; 
of  herd,  and  buttermilk. 

The  books  of  Panola  farm  for  five  years  show  an  income  from  butter  alone  of  $7,773 .63, 
average  of  $1,554  73  Per  year  for  an  average  of  18  cows  and  heifers  in  milk,  or  about  $86 
per  cow  per  year.  While  the  income  is  accurate  the  number  of  cows  is  approximate,  as  Pan 
Farm  is  more  often  below  18  cows  in  milk  than  above  that  number.  Animals  are  being  c 
stantly  sold  from  the  herd,  which  changes  the  number  weekly,  and  their  places  are  soon  fil 
by  young  heifers  raised  on  the  farm. 

The  prices  for  dairy  produce  here  have  for  a  series  of  years  been  higher  than  in  North< 
States.     Upon  inquiring  the  price  that  farmers  realized  in  Orange  County,  New  York,  wit! 
easy  access  of  New  York  City,  I  found  that  milk  in  August,  1894,  was  I  9-10  cents  per  qiu 
In  Chester  County,  New  York,  it  was  2  i-io  cents  per  quart  at  condensed  milk  factories 
select  dairies  only.     This  is  about  equal  to  20  cents  per  pound  for  butter,  and  therefore  1 
Putnam  County  dairyman  who  gets  25  cents  for  his  butter  gets  25  per  cent,   more  than 
Northern  competitor. 

There  seems  to  be  certain  diseases  that  are  peculiar  to  the  livestock  in  certain  localiti 
and  tuberculosis  is  now  the  great  enemy  of  Northern  dairy  cattle.  Georgia  has  little  to  f< 


DAIRYING    INDUSTRY.  I/- 

from  this  scourge.  It  seems  more  of  a  stable  disease  than  an  open  air  trouble.  While  we 
have  cattle  fevers,  the  "Bloody  Murrain"of  the  old  settlers,  the  disease  is  entirely  unnecessary. 
If  we  but  take  the  precaution  to  give  the  fever  to  our  calves,  they  are  thereafter  immunes,  and 
no  particular  harm  results.  Some  grown  cattle  die  of  this  disease  in  Putnam  County  every 
summer.  That  no  more  die  is  because  the  larger  dairy  farms  are  so  infected  with  the  disease 
that  young  animals  go  through  the  fever  without  the  knowledge  of  the  owner,  and  are  there- 
after as  immune  to  Texas  fever  as  vaccinated  children  are  to  smallpox.  The  United  States 
Government  reports  have  been  issued  with  the  idea  that  all  Southern  cattle  were  safe,  and  only 
Northern  cattle  died  of  this  disease.  I  feel  absolutely  accurate  in  asserting  from  personal 
experience  that  this  is  not  true.  Only  those  Southern  cattle  that  have  had  the  fever,  or  have 
grazed  upon  infected  pastures,  are  immunes. 

There  is  one  other  trouble  among  cows,  called  by  t*he  old  settlers  "hollow  horn"  and 
"hollow  tail,"  which  they  will  freely  believe  in,  as  they  do  in  the  kindred  disease,  which  they 
call  "big  head,"  in  horses.  Both  diseases  appear  to  result  from  imperfect  nutrition  and  want  of 
assimilation  of  bone-forming  constituents,  such  as  phosphate  of  lime,  sulphur,  etc.,  for  both 
diseases  yield  quickly  to  treatment  if  the  animal  be  grazed  upon  grass,  without  grain  or  hay,  and 
given  phosphates. 

He  who  would  introduce  domestic  animals  to  different  latitudes  from  their  natural  habitat 
must  not  expect  success  to  crown  every  importation.  Middle  Georgia  lies  south  of  any  parallel 
of  latitude  that  touches  Europe,  while  civilized  man  and  usually  most  of  the  animals  and  plants 
longest  under  domestication  will  finally  adapt  themselves  to  their  surroundings;  some  men  do. 
No  gardener  can  make  our  maize  grow  successfully  in  England,  and  I  have  never  seen  a  herd  ot 


vlS  DAIRYING    INDUSTRY. 

long-wooled  sheep  in  Middle  Georgia   capable  of  competing  with  those  in   England.     So 
think  to  succeed   we  must  raise  only  those  animals   best  suited  to  our  climatic  conditions 
There  is  open  to  a  future  Bates  or  Bakewell  the  making  of  a  breed  of  sheep  that  shall  suit  ou 
country,  as  the  Southdowns  suit  the  Downs   of   England,  the  Lincolns,  Lincolnshire  and  th 
Jerseys  Middle  Georgia. 

To  sum  up  the  advantages  of  Putnam  County  for  the  stock-raiser:  here  are  no  long  sever 
winters,  with  their  consequent  evils  of  disease  and  expense.  Here  is  found  a  genial  climat 
.and  responsive  soil,  only  requiring  intelligent  effort  to  reward  the  husbandman  liberally.  Ove 
this  summer  land  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  Alleghanies,  is  arched  a  sky  as  blue  as  that  of  Ital 
and  the  air  that  stirs  its  pine  trees  is  as  soft  and  balmy.  And  to  this  favored  region  with  it 
pure  waters  and  rich  grasses  and  bounteous  harvests,  nature  invites  man  with  his  flocks  an< 
herds,  assured  that  here  he  will  find  the  realization  of  the  old  Roman  motto — "Omnis pecnnia 
fecns  fnndamentum" — ("By  the  herd  we  thrive.") 


Nature  of  Soil  and  Staple  Products. 


Farming  for  Profit  Under  Present  System— Current  Prices  of  Farm  Lands. 


BY  H.  R.  DEJARNETTE. 

Home  seekers  and  investors  want  facts  presented  for  their  consideration.  As  a  rule  they 
are  business  men  and  view  matters  from  such  a  standpoint.  Glowing  descriptions  which,  upon 
investigation  fail  to  materialize,  will  always  discount  actual  advantages.  Putnam  county 
wants  business  men  as  citizens,  and  in  presenting  her  advantages,  only  such  statements  will  be 
made  as  can  be  sustained.  The  visitor  will  be  hard  to  please  who  cannot  find  in  Putnam 
county  the  kind  of  soil  he  may  desire,  whether  it  be  the  white  level  sandy  lands,  free  of  stones 
and  easy  to  cultivate,  or  the  broken,  but  more  productive  oak  and  hickory,  or  the  stiff  red,  or 
mulatto  lands,  that  stretch  out  in  broad  acres  before  him;  or  if  he  seeks  his  ideal  farm  in  the 
rich  low  lands,  it  can  be  found  along  the  valleys  of  the  Oconee  or  Little  Rivers. 

As  these  soils  differ  in  appearance,  so  they  differ  in  quality,  but  all  retain  much  of  their 
original  fertility,  or  are  rapidly  being  recuperated  under  judicious  management.  They  never 
wear  out  when  properly  cared  for.  There  lies  in  sight  of  the  writer,  land  said  to  be  the  first 
in  this  section  of  the  country  brought  into  cultivation  after  the  old  Indian  purchase,  more 
than  eighty-five  years  ago.  Under  constant  cultivation  since,  it  has  recently  produced  1300 
pounds  of  seed  cotton  per  acre.  Another  comes  to  mind  which  had  been  so  badly  handled  as  to 
be  considered  worn  out.  After  a  few  years  of  rest  it  was  again  brought  into  cultivation  and 
with  light  fertilization,  produced  23  bushels  of  corn  per  acre.  These  examples  can  be  duplicated 
on  almost  every  farm  in  the  county.  Nowhere  in  the  State  are  lands  susceptible  of  greater 
improvement,  or  respond  more  readily  to  intensive  methods.  With  such  a  variety  of  soils, 


2O  NATURE    OF   SOIL   AND    STAPLE   PRODUCTS. 

originally  strong  and  productive,  and  which  are  so  responsive  to  all  intelligent  effort  made  t 
build  them  up,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  surprise  that  the  country  long  ago  won,  and  still  holds,  th 
reputation  of  being  the  best  home  for  farmers  in  Georgia. 

Having  satisfied  himself  that  the  kind  of  land  desired  has  been  found,  the  home  seeke 
next  inquires  as  to  the  remunerative  crops  that  are  grown.  Lying  south  of  the  mountains  am 
north  of  the  piney  woods  section  of  Georgia,  our  staple  products  reach  a  greater  perfection  thai 
can  be  attained  in  either. 

Our  county  is  not  dependent  on  the  production  of  cotton  ;  we  could  live  and  grow  riche 
with  a  far  less  area  devoted  to  this  crop,  and  the  tendency  each  year  is  to  lessen  the  acreag 
on  each  farm,  yet  no  where  in  the  State  does  this,  the  present  money  crop  of  the  South,  gro\ 
to  greater  perfection.  Success  in  its  cultivation  only  follows  industry  and  business  methods 
the  latter  are  not  common  to  all  men  even  in  Putnam.  We  find  farms  where  it  takes  thre 
or  four  acres  to  produce  a  bale  of  cotton.  This  is  not  always  due  to  the  land,  as  has  bee; 
proven  time  and  again  by  a  change  of  owners.  Our  new  men  having  adopted  a  system  c 
rotation,  prepare  well  and  cultivate  thoroughly.  They  apply  a  sufficient  amount  of  fertilizers 
prepared  under  their  own  direction,  and  of  ingredients  purchased  direct  from  the  manufacturers 
to  sustain  the  crop  during  the  growing  season.  As  a  result,  the  capacity  to  yield  400  hundrei 
pounds  of  seed  cotton  is  increased  to  1,200  or  1,500  pounds  with  very  little  additional  expense 
This  is  no  fancy  picture  and  can  be  easily  verified. 

The  writer,  with  an  application  of  300  pounds  of  fertilizer  per  acre,  made  in  1894.  83  bale 
OL  cotton  weighing  500  pounds  each,  on  120  acres.  Another  farmer  reports  96  bales  from  14 
acres.  Another  37  bales  with  two  plows.  Another  54  bales  with  three  plows.  Another  24  bale 


RESIDENCE  OF  J  M.  RAINY,  EATONTON,  GA. 


HOME  OF  BENJ.  W.  HUNT,  EATONTON,  GA. 


NATURE   OF    SOIL   AND    STAPLE    PRODUCTS.  23. 

with  one  plow.  Fortunately,  however,  cotton  is  not  our  only  or  chief  resource.  The  rapid 
decline  in  its  price  has  directed  our  attention  to  other  crops,  and  it  is  gratifying  that  our  soil 
responds  most  liberally  to  the  new  demands  made  upon  it.  The  man  who  fails  to  raise  grain 
sufficient  to  supply  all  home  demands  is  farming  at  a  loss.  There  is  no  part  of  the  county 
where  under  proper  treatment  an  abundant  supply  of  provision  crops  cannot  be  produced.  Nor 
are  we  confined  to  any  one  variety.  Corn  is  our  chief  reliance,  and  is  cultivated  on  every  farm.- 
When  proper  care  is  given,  an  average  yield  of  15  to  25  bushels  is  easily  attained,  and  under 
more  favorable  conditions,  a  much  larger  yield.  For  instance,  one  farmer  reports  76  bushels 
from  one  acre,  and  67  bushels  per  acre  on  20  acres.  Another,  80  bushels  from  one  acre.  Another 
100  bushels  from  one  acre.  Another  120  bushels  from  one  acre. 

PEAS. 

Next  to  corn  in  importance  is  the  cow  pea.  Indeed,  so  rapid  has  been  its  growth  in  pub- 
lic favor,  that  we  wonder  how  people  ever  farmed  without  it.  As  a  food  crop  it  excels  any- 
thing we  raise.  Harvested  after  ripening  and  fed  in  the  hull,  it  answers  all  the  purposes  of- 
rough  food  and  grain.  It  fattens  stock  more  rapidly  and  keeps  them  in  better  condition  than 
any  food  we  use.  Fed  to  milch  cows,  it  produces  butter  rich  in  flavor  and  beautiful  in  color. 
Valuable  as  it  is  for  feeding  purposes,  this  does  not  measure  its  value.  It  is  the  clover  of  the 
South,  and  makes  rich  every  acre  upon  which  it  is  grown.  The  grain  when  gathered 
takes  nothing  from  its  fertilizing  properties.  Agricultural  chemists  assure  us  that  its  main 
value  as  a  manure  lies  in  the  roots.  The  grain  and  vines  may  be  removed  with  little  detriment 
to  the  soil.  The  pea  can  be  planted  from  May  I5th  to  July  25th  in  several  ways.  It  follows- 
an  oat  crop  profitably ;  sown  broadcast,  an  immense  amount  of  excellent  hay  can  be  harvested.. 


24  NATURE    OF    SOIL    AND    STAPLE    PRODUCTS. 

Planted  and  cultivated  on  same  land,  it  yields  from  8  to  12  bushels  at  a  very  small  cost.  Plante( 
between  each  row  of  corn,  it  yields  5  to  8  bushels  per  acre,  and  in  this  manner  is  the  cheapes 
crop  grown,  because  in  plowing  the  corn  the  pea  in  the  middle  of  the  row  is  cultivated  withou 
additional  work. 

OATS. 

When  to  corn  and  peas  we  add  oats,  our  demands  for  grain  are  well  supplied.  Sown  ii 
the  early  fall  they  are  considered  a  sure  crop,  particularly  when  sown  on  Bermuda  lands  whicl 
have  served  as  pasture  through  the  summer.  During  very  severe  winters  the  crop  may  be  killed 
When  this  occurs,  as  during  the  winter  of  '94  and  '95,  a  spring  crop  may  be  made  and  goo< 
results  obtained.  This  was  done  the  past  spring.  One  farmer  reports  3,000  bushels  on  41 
acres.  Another  87  bushels  on  one  acre.  Another  sowed  one  and  one-half  acre  in  February  las 
and  harvested  140  bushels.  He  now  has  a  crop  of  cow  peas  growing  on  the  same  land. 

WHEAT. 

This  grain  has  always  been  raised  to  some  extent  in  our  county.  It  is  rather  an  uncertaii 
crop,  yet  some  of  our  farmers  have  always  made  enough  to  supply  their  demands.  More  intei 
est  manifested  in  this  crop  would  lead  to  much  better  results.  One  farmer  reports  this  seasor 
So  bushels  from  two  acres. 

RYE  AND  BARLEY. 

Near  the  home  on  nearly  every  farm  may  be  seen  during  the  winter  months  a  luxuriant  lo 
of  rye  or  barley.  It  is  grown  not  so  much  for  the  grain  as  for  winter  grazing  and  soiling — 
tonic  by  which  our  stock  are  very  much  strengthened.  It  is  converted  into  milk  and  butter  an 
keens  the  vouncr  stock  in  o-rowino-  condition 


NATURE  OF  SOIL  AND  STAPLE  PRODUCTS.  2$ 

SWEET   POTATOES. 

Another  crop  destined  to  play  a  more  important  part  in  the  farm  economy  is  the  sweet 
potato.  Always  highly  appreciated  for  table  use,  and  as  food  for  hogs,  the  discovery  that  it 
makes  fine  butter  when  fed  to  cows,  and  is  relished  by  horses  and  mules,  has  added  much  to  its 
•value.  The  yield  is  enormous,  ranging  from  100  to  350  bushels  per  acre. 

SUGAR  CANE. 

As  indicative  of  the  capability  of  our  soil  and  climate,  we  note  that  sugar  cane,  really  a 
tropical  plant,  is  raised  successfully  throughout  the  county,  yielding  an  abundant  supply  of 
syrup  unsurpassed  in  table  qualities  by  any  in  the  world.  Two  to  four  hundred  gallons  per  acre 
is  often  made. 

We  have  now  concisely  given  what  we  believe  to  be  a  fair  statement  of  the  variety  and 
quality  of  our  soil  and  the  products  of  the  same.  It  only  remains  to  state  the  figures  at  which 
the  lands  of  this  county  can  be  purchased.  In  doing  this  we  want  to  say  that  our  people  are 
conservative  in  all  things.  We  really  want  honest,  industrious,  intelligent  farmers  to  come  and 
live  among  us.  We  honestly  believe  our  county  presents  unsurpassed  attractions.  We  have 
no  "wild  cat"  schemes  to  boom  prices  of  our  lands.  We  will  deal  with  people  from  abroad  just 
as  we  would  with  our  home  folks. 

We  can  furnish  homes  for  several  thousand,  in  farms  of  50  to  5,000  acres,  at  $3  to  $12  per 
acre.  Cleared  in  part  and  ready  for  cultivation.  Come  and  see. 


Sanitary  Conditions  of  Putnam  County. 

BY  R.  B.  NISBET,  M.  D. 

The  State  of  Georgia  is  divided  into  three  distinct  sections,  known  as  Cherokee,  or  North 
Ge  rgia,  Middle,  and  South  Georgia.  These  differ  from  each  other  in  several  respects.  In  the 
face  of  the  country,  in  the  character  of  soil,  in  their  water  courses,  and  in  the 
great  varieties  of  timber  growth  that  were  originally  found  upon  them,  and  that  still  remain  in 
great  abundance.  Also  upon  their  elevation  above  the  level  of  the  sea;  and  more  or  less  in 
climate  and  climatic  influences. 

Middle  Georgia  has  always  been  considered  the  most  desirable  portion  of  the  State,  both 
because  of  the  richness  of  its  soil,  and  healthfulness,  and  was  the  first  part  of  the  State  that 
was  fully  settled. 

It  is  known  as  the  "Oak  and  Hickory  Belt,"  as  these  hard  woods  predominated  in  its 
primeval  forests.  Its  soil  is  as  a  rule  of  a  dark  red  clay,  with  occasional  outcroppings  of  lighter 
or  "gray"  lands. 

In  the  very  center  of  this  belt  is  situated 

PUTNAM  COUNTY, 

Which  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree  all  the  most  favored  characteristics  of  this  section.     Fine 
soil,  fine  water,  abundance  of  streams,  perfect  natural  drainage,  and  in  health  unexcelled  by  any 


RESIDENCE  OF  C.  D.  LEONARD,  EATONTON,  GA. 


RESIDENCE  OF  CAPT.  C.  M.  DAVIS,  EATONTON,  GA. 


SANITARY  CONDITIONS  OF  PUTNAM  COUNTY.  2Q 

county  in  the  State.  While  it  has  a  large  river  on  its  eastern  border,  a  smaller  one  entirely 
through  its  center,  and  these  fed  by  smaller  streams,  yet  there  are  no  swamps  or  morasses,  and 
no  portion  subject  to  malaria. 

It  is  in  latitude  33  degrees  north.  Its  elevation  above  the  level  of  the  sea  ranges  from  375 
to  400  feet.  Its  mean  temperature  for  mid-winter,  50  degrees;  for  mid-summer  (July),  75  de- 
grees. Its  rainfall  averages  50  inches. 

It  is  free  from  objections  which  may  in  a  moderate  degree  hold  good  as  to  the  other 
sections  of  the  State,  especially  as  to  health. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  country,  like  every  part  of  the  South  and  West,  when  the  for- 
est was  first  cut  down  and  the  accumulated  vegetable  matter  of  centuries  was  first  turned  up 
by  the  plow — there  was  more  or  less  malaria — diseases  of  a  bilious  type  prevailed,  often  of  a 
violent  congestive  form.  The  diseases  of  winter,  too,  pleurisies,  pneumonias  and  other  kin- 
-dred  affections  were  not  uncommon.  Yet  never  to  that  extent  that  these  same  diseases 
afflicted  the  early  settlers  of  Eastern  Indiana,  Illinois  or  Michigan,  under  the  same  circum- 
stances. 

As  the  lands  were  opened  up  to  cultivation  these  forms  of  disease,  especially  those  of 
malarial  origin,  rapidly  changed  their  character,  becoming  milder  and  milder  until  now  a  purely 
malarial  chill  is  unknown,  or  if  found  at  all,  is  caused  by  some  special  and  limited  local  cause 
easily  removed. 

There  are  no  epidemics  of  any  kind;  none  of  the  fevers  of  the  coast  cities  ;  none  of  the 
acute  pulmonary  diseases,  or  dysenteries  of  the  mountain  valleys. 

The  County  of  Putnam    is   almost  entirely  exempt  from   the  much  dreaded  affections— 


3O  SANITARY   CONDITIONS    OF    PUTNAM    COUNTY. 

rheumatism,  that  curse  of  the  outdoor  laboring  man,  so  common  to  the  bleak  prairies  of  the 
West  and  the  Lake  States — and  that  horror  of  the  mothers  of  the  New  England  and  Eastern 
States,  membraneous  croup.  This  latter  disease  is  so  rare  that  the  writer  in  a  practice  of  forty 
years  has  never  seen  but  two  cases. 

The  summer  temperature  is  so  mild  and  equable,  the  nights  so  cool  and  pleasant,  that  this 
disease,  which  in  all  cities  North  and  South,  is  more  destructive  to  life  than  any  pestilence,  is 
very  rarely  encountered  here. 

The  summer  complaint  of  teething  is  never  severe,  is  of  short  duration,  and  yields  easily 
to  remedies. 

It  is  true  we  have  more  or  less  sickness.  We  have  some  fevers  which  are  generally  of  a 
mild  form,  are  self  emanating  in  character,  and  seldom  fatal.  Nor  is  the  county  exempt  from  all 
the  diseases  that  are  incident  to  humanity  wherever  found,  but  no  local  disease  or  diseases  of 
local  origin. 

Consumption,  or  tuberculosis,  in  its  manifold  developments,  is  not  a  disease  of  this 
section.  Here  and  there  a  case  develops  independent  of  heredity,  originating  from  some  special 
cause,  or  following  pneumonia  or  bronchitis,  or  where  lungs  already  delicate  and  feeble  become 
ready  recipients  of  the  infection.  On  the  contrary,  experience  has  proven  that  every  per- 
son of  Northern  birth  who  has  settled  in  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  has 
improved.  Winter  visitors  invariably  are  improved  by  a  sojourn  here,  and  are  enthusiastic  in 
their  praise  of  the  climate.  In  many  tespects  for  invalids  it  is  far  superior  to  Florida.  It  is 
higher  and  has  a  drier  atmosphere.  It  is  free  from  the  north-east  winds,  which  often  make 
the  eastern  coast  of  that  State  as  bleak  as  the  coast  of  New  Jersey.  It  is  also  free  from  the 


RESIDENCE  OF  R.  W.  HUTUHINSON,  EATONTON,  GA. 


RESIDENCE  OF  HON.  T.  G.  LAWSON,  M.  C.,  EATONTON,  GA. 


SANITARY    CONDITIONS    OF    PUTNAM    COUNTY. 


33 


humid  and  heavy  atmosphere,  from  the  sultry  and  enervating  days  which  are  so  depressing  in 
their  effect  upon  lungs  already  enfeebled  by  disease. 

Eatonton,  the  county  seat,  elevated  upon  one  of  the  highest  points  in  the  county,  is  noted 
for  its  healthfulness.  It  is  a  perfect  health  resort,  for  either  the  Northern  invalid  in  winter, 
or  the  residents  of  the  seaboard  in  summer.  It  is»  naturally  well  drained.  Its  sanitation  is 
well  cared  for.  Its  school  system  is  good  and  free.  Its  population  moral  and  intelligent,  and 
the  stranger  within  its  gates  most  hospitably  received. 


FRUIT-VARIETY  AND  CULTURE. 

BY  DR.  JAS.  D.  WEAVER. 

The  counties  of  Middle  Georgia  are  acknowledged  to  be  the  natural  home  of  many  desira- 
ble fruits,  while  so  great  a  number  of  exotics  are  thriving  and  prolific,  as  to  lead  one  to  be- 
lieve them  all  indigenous.  Of  Putnam  County  this  statement  is  pre-eminently  true.  Our 
farmers  have  at  all  times  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  cultivation  of  orchards.  Although  until 
recently,  no  effort  has  ever  been  made  to  grow  fruits  for  the  Northern  and  Eastern  markets,. 
for  with  cotton  at  a  remunerative  price,  they  were  gathered  for  pleasure  and  luxury,  and  not 
for  profit  to  their  owner.  But  that  day  has  passed,  and  in  place  of  the  old  orchards,  choked 
with  dark  vegetation,  are  seen  trained  fruit  farms,  giving  every  evidence  of  careful  attention 
by,  and  ample  profit  to,  their  possessors. 

The  most  important  factors  in  the  successful  growing,  cultivation  and  propagation  of 
fruits  are  suitable  soil  and  climate.  We  claim  these.  Our  climate  is  perfect,  and  the 
quality  of  our  soil  so  varied,  that  one  can  find  lands,  even  on  a  small  farm,  adapted  to  the  culti- 
ation  of  all  the  varieties. 

To  enumerate  the  fruits  produced  here  is  almost  impossible.  One  might  safely  include 
every  one,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  the  Tropics  ;  But  the  fruit  which  has  engrossed  the 
attention  of  the  people  of  both  the  North  and  South,  and  which,  for  that  reason,  deserves  more 
than  passing  notice,  is  the  peach. 

So  well  is  our  climate  and  soil  adapted  to  its  perfection,  that  an  uninformed  person,  oa 


RESIDENCE  OF  B.  R.  BECK,  EATONTON,  GA. 


RESIDENCE  OF  MBS.  JONES,  EATONTON,  GA. 


FRUIT — VARIETY   AND    CULTURE.  37 

seeing  a  Putnam  County  fruit  farm,  might  conclude  that  the  peach  was  indigenous.  Pomo- 
logists  are  agreed  that  a  clay  soil,  containing  some  sand,  or  what  is  generally  known  here  as 
"mulatto  lands,"  is  best  fitted  to  its  cultivation  to  the  highest  degree  of  excellence.  While 
certain  varieties  appear  to  do  well  on  sandy  soil,  or  sandy  loam,  they  are  liable  to  lose  their  fruit 
through  decay,  and  should  it  mature,  yet  that  rich,  peachy  flavor,  so  highly  prized  by  peach 
connoiseurs,  and  so  characteristic  of  the  Putnam  County  peach,  is  lost.  In  this  section  one 
may  find  peaches  for  table  and  market  from  the  first  of  June  to  the  middle  of  October. 

Much  has  been  said  about   the   southern  section   of   this  State  as  a  fruit  paradise. 

Putnam  asks  only  for  a  fair  comparison  of  results  from  the  careful  cultivation  of  any  kind 
of  fruit. 

Putnam  is  only  a  few  days  (four  or  five)  behind  Southern  Georgia  in  the  markets,  and  in 
three  seasons  out  of  five  there  is  no  perceptible  difference  in  time  of  ripening. 

A  careful  analysis  of  the  two  soils  will  prove  that  Putnam's  possesses  every  ingredient 
necessary  for  the  propagation  of  the  peach. 

The  same  degree  of  latitude  in  which  this  county  is  situated,  if  followed  east,  will  lead 
to  Central  Persia,  the  "fatherland"  of  this  incomparable  fruit.  Every  essential  element  of 
its  growth  to  perfection  in  its  native  soil  and  climate  is  found  here. 

We  have  on  our  farms,  and  in  our  orchards,  trees  that  have  stood  for  more  than  fifty  years 
and  are  still  yielding  the  most  delicious  peaches,  retaining  their  identity,  size  and  flavor.  This 
is  especially  true  of  the  seedlings  we  have  propagated,  many  of  which  the  Tinsley,  Blount  and 
Reid  deserve  mention  as  having  more  than  a  State-wide  reputation. 

The  plum  is  indigenous  to  our  soil.     We  have  that  type  known  as  the  Chicasaw,  com- 

461144 


38  FRUIT — VARIETY  AND  CULTURE. 

monly  called  "wild-field"  plum.  It  was  planted  here  in  the  early  settlement  of  the  country  and 
grows  everywhere  over  our  farms.  They  thrive  without  cultivation,  planting  or  care, 
and  furnish  us  nice  fruit  early  in  the  season.  From  the  Chickasaw  we  have  cultivated  and 
evolved  many  choice  varieties,  equal  to  any  of  foreign  import,  with  the  "Wild  Goose,"  as  an 
intance.  In  addition  to  these  we  have  many  of  the  exotics.  Japan  has  furnished  us  with  some 
of  her  best  kinds,  and  our  soil  and  climate  seem  well  suited  to  them.  No  doubt  they  do  as 
well,  if  not  better,  than  on  their  own  native  soil,  and  we  predict  that  the  time  will  come 
when  many  will  be  cultivating  the  plum  for  profit,  and  that  it  will  hold  as  high  a  place  in  the 
minds  of  fruit  men  as  any  of  their  products. 

Grapes  are  grown  successfully  here.  As  is  the  case  with  the  plum,  many  are  of  native 
origin,  but  our  best  have  been  given  us  by  the  northern  section,  more  especially  by  New  York 
State.  All  varieties  do  well  with  us,  as  our  soil  and  the  general  topography  of  the  country  vary. 
Having  hill  lands  as  well  as  plains,  one  can  find  all  conditions  for  the  cultivation  of  this,  the 
best  and  healthiest  of  fruits. 

We  never  miss  a  crop  of  grapes,  having  species  ripening  from  June  20th  to  September;, 
and  when  the  peach  crop  fails,  grapes  for  market  yield  handsome  returns. 

Apples,  pears,  quinces,  apricots  and  cherries  do  well  here,  although  they  have  not  received 
deserved  attention,  and  are  found  around  every  country  home. 

We  have  many  varieties  of  small  fruits  and  berries,  notably,  raspberries,  strawberries,  black- 
berries and  dewberries.  The  latter  three  can  be  found  growing  either  in  a  wild  or  cultivated 
state. 

All  of  these  have  been  receiving  more  than  usual  attention  just  now  (heretofore  they  have 


FRUIT — VARIETY    AND    CULTURE.  39 

been  grown  principally  for  table  use).  Being  early  and  productive,  when  grown  for  market,  they 
pay  well.  We  have  other  fruits  of  less  importance,  but  deem  it  unnecessary  to  mention  them. 
Our  orchards  are  comparatively  free  from  disease.  The  spraying  apparatus  is  quite  unneces- 
sary and  unused  by  us. 

A  very  appropriate  conclusion  for  this  article  will  be  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  a 
number  of  fruit  trees  to  form  an  orchard  intended  mainly  for  family  consumption,  and  bearing 
from  June  1st  to  November  ist.  Whatever  product  of  such  an  orchard  not  required  for  home 
use,  can  be  sold  at  fair  prices  to  the  "  Eatonton  Canning  Factory."  The  information  thus 
supplied  will  be  invaluable  to  the  new  settler,  or  immigrant,  who  can  have  the  benefit  of  an 
experience  in  fruit  culture  which  we  have  acquired  by  long  years  of  patient  experiment. 

Assuming  that  the  orchard  shall  contain  400  trees  of  the  different  varieties  profitably  grown 
in  this  county,  and  arranged  in  the  order  of  maturity,  or  approximately  so — a  convenient  distri- 
bution will  appear  as  follows  : 

Peaches 250  Trees  Plums 25  Trees 

Apples 50     "  Apricots 2      " 

Dwarf  Pears 10     "  Nectarines 3      " 

Standard . 25     "  Mulberries 3      " 

Cherries 10     "  Japan  Persimmons 2      " 

Peaches,  free  stone — Amsden,  Alexander,  Beatrice,  Louise,  Early  Livens,  Early  Tillotson, 
Mountain  Rose,  Foster,  Susquehannah,  Thurber,  Stump  the  World,  Columbia,  Elberta,  Musco- 
.gee,  Gaylord,  President  Church,  Late  Crawford,  Late  Admirable. 


4O  FRUIT — VARIETY    AND    CULTURE. 

Peaches,  cling  stones — Tuskena,  General  Taylor,  Chinese,  Old  Mixon,  Pine  Apple,  Indian 
Blood,  Remington,  Heath  or  White  English,  Eaton's  Golden,  Austin,  Darby,  Blount,  Cooper, 
Reid,  Late  Admirable. 

Apples — Red  Astrachan,  Early  Harvest,  Red  June,  Horse,  Red  Margaret,  Julian,  Buncombe, 
Carter's  Blue,  Ben  Davis,  Mangum,  Chattahoochee,  Stevenson's  Winter,  Shockley,  Yates, 
Romanito,  Wolf  River. 

Pears — Standard,  Bartlett,  Beurre  Superfine,  Clapp's  Favorite,  Belle  Lucrative,  Lawrence, 
Dnchesse  d'Angonleme,  KeiJJer,  Le  Conte  or  Sand  Pear,  Seeklt,  White  Dogenne. 

Plums — Caraduec,   Wild  Goose,  Cumberland,  Apricot  Plum,  Hattie,  Newman,  Japan. 

Cherries — Imperatrice,  Eugenie,  May  Duke,  Werder's  Early  Black,  Early  Richmond,  Gov- 
ernor Wood. 

While  the  above  list  comprises  a  careful  selection  of  the  best  varieties,  those  in  italics  have 
been  more  generally  cultivated  and  proven.  As  I  have  endeavored  to  render  a  valuable  service 
to  those  not  familiar  with  our  locality,  in  directing  what  to  plant,  for  the  further  important 
information  as  to  how  to  plant  and  to  cultivate,  so  as  to  attain  satisfactory  results,  I  can  safely 
refer  the  enquirer  to  a  publication,  by  Wm.  N.  White,  of  Athens,  Ga.,  an  accomplished  and 
successful  orchardist  and  gardener,  printed  in  1856,  and  known  as  White's  "Gardening  for  the 
South." 


RESIDENCE  Of  JUDGE  J.  S.  TURNER,  EATONTON.  GA. 


RESIDENCE  OF  JUDGE  W.  P.  JENKINS,  EATONTON,  GA. 


Truck  Farming  and  Market  Advantages. 

BY  M.  R.  HUDSON, 
Secretary  of  Putnam  County  Truck  Association. 

No  county  in  the  State  offers  superior  inducements  to  truck  growers.  With  its  fertile  soil, 
genial  climate,  coupled  with  its  close  proximity  to  the  large  cities  of  the  State,  and  supplied 
with  railroad  facilities,  in  the  shape  of  convenient  schedules,  and  low  freight  rates  to  all  points, 
it  offers  everything  to  the  experienced  truck  farmer  that  could  be  desired.  Previous  to  five 
years  ago  there  was  but  little  attention  paid  to  the  growing  of  truck  for  outside  markets.  With 
the  low  price  of  cotton,  our  principal  crop,  being  barely  above  the  cost  of  production  under  the 
present  method  of  cultivating  and  marketing  it,  the  farmers  in  this  county  have  been  prompted 
to  look  out  for  oiher  means  of  revenue  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Putnan;  County  Fair 
Association,  the  annual  exhibitions  have  done  much  to  develop  the  truck  industry,  by  exhibiting 
not  only  to  strangers,  but  to  our  own  people,  the  possibilities  of  truck  growing,  and  have  led 
many  of  our  farmers  to  engage  in  growing  from  one  to  ten  acres  each.  With  the  seasons  of  such 
duration  that  three  crops,  and  in  some  cases,  four  crops  can  be  raised  on  the  same  land  each  year. 
Success  depends  on  the  experience  of  the  grower  and  fertility  of  the  soil,  two  factors  that  the 
initiated  will  recognize  as  of  the  highest  importance  in  truck  growing.  The  principal  crops 
grown  for  market  are  Irish  potatoes,  of  which  two  crops  can  be  grown  per  year;  the  early  spring 
crop,  planted  in  February,  from  which  more  can  be  raised  the  same  year,  and  the  fall  crop  that 


44  TRUCK    FARMING    AND    MARKET   ADVANTAGES. 

is  sought  after  by  all  the  seedsmen,  making  a  far  superior  seed  potato  to  either  the  Northern  or 
Eastern  seed,  both  in  earliness  of  maturity,  and  yield  per  acre.  This,  coupled  with  the  ease  and 
facility  with  which  the  retailer  can  use  them  in  competition  with  the  higher  priced  Bermuda 
potatoes  in  January  and  February,  renders  the  fall  crop  much  the  most  profitable.  The  yield 
will  average  Irom  three  to  four  hundred  bushels  per  acre. 

Fairly  abreast  of  the  Irish  potatato  crop  is  the  cabbage  crop  of  the  county,  which 
is  probably  grown  and  marketed  twelve  months  in  the  year.  The  yield,  with  experienced 
growers,  is  about  two  hundred  crates  per  acre,  and  the  price  ranges  from  two  dollars  a  crate  for 
the  fall  and  winter  crop,  to  one  dollar  for  the  summer  crop.  This  being  a  vegetable  of  unusual 
consumption,  large  quantities  of  it  are  grown  annually. 

Next  in  importance  comes  the  onion  crop,  specimens  of  which  that  have  been  grown  from 
the  seed  have  averaged  six  inches  in  diameter.  Our  mild  winters,  preceded  by  the  natural 
humidity  and  coolness  of  the  fall  months,  make  this  the  home  of  the  onion.  Planted  in 
August  they  readily  attain  by  Christmas,  marketable  size,  and  are  used  by  the  retailer  success- 
fully to  compete  in  the  markets  with  the  Bermuda  crop  in  January  and  February.  This  crop 
here,  as  in  all  other  localities,  while  it  requires  much  care,  is  by  all  odds  the  most  profitable. 
The  yield  is  about  five  hundred  bushels  at  an  average  price  of  a  dollar  and  half  per  bushel. 

The  next  crop  in  importance  to  the  onion  and  Irish  potato  crop,  is  the  turnip  crop.  This 
crop,  owing  to  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  raised,  is  probably  the  most  popular  crop  grown  in 
the  county.  The  yield  is  about  four  hundred  bushels  per  acre,  and  the  price  during  February, 
March  and  April,  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  barrel. 

The  crop  next  in  importance  and  which  will  eventually  occupy  the  first  rank  in  the  truck 


TRUCK  FARMING  AND  MARKET  ADVANTAGES.  45 

crop  of  the  county  is  the  sweet  potato,  owing  not  to  its  great  yield,  price,  or  the  ease  in  raising 
it,  but  to  the  familiarity  of  the  average  farmer  with  its  cultivation  and  experience  in  keeping  it 
in  marketable  condition.  The  average  yield  is  about  two  hundred  bushels,  and  price  about 
fifty  cents  per  bushel.. 

The  next  crop  of  importance  is  the  tomato  crop,  which  is  growing  yearly  in  popularity  and 
consumption  in  our  markets.  The  best  yield  that  has  come  under  the  writer's  observation  was 
grown  by  one  of  the  most  experienced  tomato  growers  in  the  county — seventy-five  bushels  on 
one-eighth  of  an  acre.  The  average  price  for  shipping  is  about  fifty  cents  per  bushel  in  the 
midst  of  the  season,  with  prices  ranging  from  two  to  three  dollars  for  the  eastern  and  later 
crop.  This  crop  can  be  extended  from  May  25th  until  the  1st  of  February,  under  the  present 
method  of. handling  it. 

Two  years  ago  there  were  no  green  peas  shipped  out  of  the  county,  now  the  crop  is  rapidly 
coming  into  favor,  and  the  yield  and  price  are  fairly  good.  About  one  hundred  baskets  is  a  fair 
yield  per  acre,  at  an  average  price  of  one  dollar  and  a  half  per  basket. 

While  the  foregoing  are  the  leading  crops,  quantities  of  beans,  cucumbers,  squash,  egg- 
plant and  pepper,  are  raised  and  sold. 

Now  as  to  markets;  we  are  in  an  hour  and  a  half  of  Eatonton  and  Milledgeville,  with  a 
population  of  ten  thousand  people,  with  a  freight  of  fourteen  cents  per  hundred;  and  only  six 
hours  from  Atlanta,  Savannah,  Augusta,  and  Macon,  with  an  average  freight  rate  of  twenty- 
three  cents,  and  a  population  of  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  people,  that  consume  everything 
good,  bad  and  indifferent,  at  some  price. 


46 


TRUCK   FARMING    AND    MARKET   ADVANTAGES. 


The  foregoing  is  the  result  of  the  writer's  experience  in  growing  truck  exclusively  for  the 
past  seven  years. 

Good  lands  suitable  for  trucking  can  be  bought  in  tracts  of  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  acres 
improved  and  contiguous  to  railroad,  for  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre.  Larger 
tracts  can  be  bought  at  much  lower  rates.  The  railroad  companies  have  adopted  a  wise  policy 
in  giving  low  freight  rates,  and  also  in  stopping  its  freight  cars  at  any  point  conven- 
ient to  the  truckers.  This  result  has  not  been  gained  so  much  by  individual  effort  as  by  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  truckers,  leagued  under  the  name  of  the  "  Putnam  County  Fruit  and 
Truck  Growers'  Association." 

The  writer  can  give  the  assurance  that  those  who  have  experience  and  practical  knowledge 
can  here  be  sure  of  fair  remuneration  for  time  and  .labor  devoted  to  the  truck  industry. 


RESIDENCE  OF  D.  T.  SINGLETON,  NEAR  WILLARD,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


DR.  J.  T.  DK.JARNETTE'S   RESIDENCE,  PUTNAM  COUNTY,  GA. 


Diversified  Agriculture  and  Manufacture. 


BY  JUDGE  J.  S.  TURNER. 

The  advantages  of  diversified  agriculture,  and  other  pursuits,  can  be  better  illustrated  by 
the  simple  story  of  a  Putnam  County  plantation,  during  the  war,  than  by  any  modern  instance. 
A  study  of  farm  life  during  that  period  will  show  actual  success  in  diversified  pursuits,  under  the 
most  adverse  circumstances. 

Turnwold,  a  plantation  locally  famous  in  the  history  and  traditions  of  Middle  Georgia,  is 
selected  for  the  story,  not  because  the  results  accomplished  there  were  greater  than  on  many 
other  well  managed  plantations,  but  having  been  born  and  reared  thereon,  the  facts  are  more 
familiar  to  the  writer.  Besides,  Turnwold  is  extensively  celebrated  as  having  once  been  the 
home  of  Wm.  H.  Seward,  who,  during  a  short  period  of  his  young  manhood,  taught  school  in 
the  old  academy  thereon  ;  and  at  a  later  date,  during  the  period  of  which  I  write,  of  Joel  Chan- 
dler Harris,  who  has  woven  around  it  a  literary  interest  as  the  place  where  Uncle  Remus 
quaintly  told  the  adventures  of  Bre'r  Rabbit  to  the  little  boy. 

Here  for  four  years,  during  which  civil  war  had  paralyzed  the  general  business  of  the  South, 
with  no  market  within  which  to  buy  or  sell,  a  busy  hive  of  laborers  produced  in  magnificent 
abundance  not  only  all  the  necessaries  but  many  luxuries  for  the  sustenance  and  comfort  of 
their  families,  more  than  a  hundred  people,  besides  furnishing  the  quota  prescribed  by  law  for 
the  support  of  the  Southern  army. 
4 


5O  DIVERSIFIED    AGRICULTURE   AND    MANUFACTURE. 

Cotton,  which  had  been  extensively  grown  before,  and  which  furnished  the  money  with 
which  the  planter  purchased  the  necessary  supplies  for  his  family  and  his  slaves,  by  reason  of 
the  vigilant  blockade  of  federal  gun-boats,  no  longer  found  a  profitable  market,  and  its  culture 
was  abandoned,  except  to  the  extent  which  was  required  by  the  actual  demands  of  the  farm. 

The  fields,  which  had  been  devoted  to  the  culture  of  cotton,  were  seeded  in  grain,  or  con- 
verted into  pastures,  and  herds  of  cattle,  sheep  and  goats,  hundreds  of  hogs,  and  horses  and 
mules,  were  annually  raised,  where  only  a  few  had  been  required  formerly.  Corn  cribs,  grain 
houses,  barns  and  store-rooms  were  annually  filled  to  overflowing,  and  the  display  of  hams, 
shoulders,  bacon  and  sausages,  hanging  from  the  grimy  rafters  of  the  smoke-house,  soon  demon- 
strated that  for  food  neither  master  nor  slave  would  suffer. 

Realizing  that  many  other  articles,  formerly  bought  in  the  markets,  were  as  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  those  dependent  upon  him,  and  that  they  could  no  longer  be  thus  procured,  every 
energy  of  the  master  was  exerted  to  make  his  plantation  self  sustaining  in  every  respect.  Ob- 
stacles which  at  the  present  day  would  seem  almost  insurmountable,  despite  our  boasted  prog- 
ress, were  successfully  overcome,  and  prosperity  and  comfort  were  the  result. 

Shops,  for  the  manufacture  of  the  various  necessities  and  comforts,  were  gradually  erected 
and  placed  in  charge  of  slaves  who  were  found  to  be  most  apt  in  learning  the  trades,  and  who 
soon  became  skilful  in  their  several  pursuits. 

The  blacksmith  and  wood  shops  turned  out  every  implement  used  upon  the  farm,  from  axe- 
handles  and  hoe-handles,  to  plow-hoes,  plow-stocks,  wheelbarrows,  and  wagons.  The  buggies 
and  carriages  were  repaired  er  remade,  and  many  other  articles  formerly  made  or  repaired  else- 
where were  daily  sent  out  of  these  shops  for  use  upon  the  farm. 


DIVERSIFIED    AGRICULTURE   AND    MANUFACTURE.  51 

At  the  tanyard  the  green  hides  of  all  domestic  animals  were  converted  into  leather,  from 
heavy  sole  to  pliant  calf  and  kid.  Even  the  hides  of  small  game,  such  as  rabbits  and  squirrels, 
were  turned  into  leather  as  soft  and  delicate  as  chamois  skin. 

This  leather  was  manufactured  at  the  shoe  shop,  by  hand,  into  harness  of  all  kinds,  for 
plowing,  for  hauling  with  wagons,  or  for  the  more  pretentious  use  of  the  master's  buggy  or  the 
mistress's  carriage.  Coarse  shoes  for  the  field  hands  and  softer  ones  for  the  women  and  chil- 
dren were  all  made  here.  Even  the  mistress  and  children  drew  their  general  supply  from  this 
humble  shop.  Inelegant  they  were,  and  comparatively  ill-shaped  and  rough,  but  they  were  dura- 
ble and  comfortable,  and  in  these  respects,  at  least,  answered  as  well  as  the  fine  ones,  which 
they  had  worn  in  former  years.  The  very  lasts,  and  pegs,  the  awls  and  thread,  the  wax  and 
other  materials  used  by  the  cobbler,  were  produced  upon  the  plantation. 

In  the  cooper  shop,  hogsheads,  barrels,  tubs,  buckets,  and  kegs  were  turned  out  in  workman- 
like manner,  and  in  sufficient  quantities  for  every  demand.  The  cedars  and  pines  growing  in 
profusion  everywhere  furnished  the  material  for  staves,  and  hickory  withes  supplied  the  place 
of  metal  hoops. 

The  grain  and  fruit,  which  could  not  be  otherwise  consumed,  was  distilled  into  spirits,  fur- 
nishing many  barrels  to  the  medical  department  of  the  army,  and  proving  a  source  of  revenue 
to  the  planter  from  a  surplus,  which  would  have  been  wasted  if  not  put  to  this  use. 

A  cane  mill,  manufactured  upon  the  place,  extracted  the  juice  from  sorghum  and  ribbon- 
cane,  many  acres  of  which  were  annually  planted,  which  in  turn  was  boiled  into  syrup  as  sweet 
and  clear  as  honey,  or  into  sugar  crude  and  unrefined,  but  pure  and  wholesome,  a  great  boon  to 


52  DIVERSIFIED    AGRICULTURE    AND    MANUFACTURE. 

the  busy  house-wife,  who,  in  some  mysterious  way,  born  of  the  necessity  of  the  times,  prepared 
therefrom  delicacies  fit  for  Epicurus. 

The  manufacture  of  hats  was  even  ventured,  and  that  too  upon  a  comparatively  large  scale, 
and  under  the  supervision  of  a  white  workman,  common  field  hands  were  taught  to  make  from 
wool  and  the  furs  of  many  native  animals,  such  as  rabbits,  minks  and  beavers,  hats  both  shapely 
and  comfortable.  This  venture  proved  a  great  success,  and  many  thousands  of  these  hats  were 
sold  all  over  the  Confederacy.  One,  which  has  survived  the  wear  and  vicissitude  of  over  thirty 
years,  was  shown  to  the  writer  not  many  years  ago. 

Money  being  scarce  these  hats  were  priced  for  so  many  pounds  of  wool,  or  so  many  rabbit 
skins,  and  many  a  boy  has  been  made  happy,  who,  after  hunting  every  Saturday,  had  procured 
by  this  means  enough  pelts  to  buy  a  new  hat. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  industry  on  the  place  was  that  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of 
fabrics  and  clothing.  The  work  in  this  department  was  done  entirely  by  female  slave?  presided 
over  by  the  mistress,  who  in  skilful  management  and  the  wonderful  diversity  of  resources  dis- 
played a  genius  most  remakable.  This  department  not  only  supplied  all  the  cotton  and  wollen 
cloth,  with  which  the  whites  and  blacks  were  clothed  winter  and  summer,  but  replaced  the  car- 
pets, rugs,  bedticks,  sheets,  towels,  and  window  curtains  in  the  "big  house,"  as  those  articles 
gave  way  to  use  and  the  ravages  of  time. 

From  the  gin-house  the  lint  cotton  went  into  the  carding  room,  where  skilful  women,  with 
hand  cards,  converted  it  into  soft  and  downy  bats,  which  were  taken  by  the  spinners,  and  to  the 
droning  music  of  the  wheel,  drawn  into  thread  of  various  sizes.  Wound  upon  bobbins,  or  folded 
into  hanks,  dyed  to  suit  the  fancy  of  the  mistress,  this  thread  was  conveyed  to  the  looms,  where 


RESIDENCE  OF  HON.  J.  T.  DENNIS,  6  miles  South  of  Eatonton. 


RESIDENCE  OF  DR.  N.  S.  WALKER,  WILLARD,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA, 


DIVERSIFIED    AGRICULTURE    AND    MANUFACTURE.  55 

fast  fingers  passed  the  flying  shuttle,  and  created  the  warp  and  woof  of  fabrics  useful,  durable 
and  frequently  beautiful  in  design. 

The  variety  of  fabrics  turned  out  from  these  simple  looms  was  truly  marvelous,  embracing 
the  light  weight,  creamy  colored  stuff  for  undewear,  and  sheets,  the  checked  or  striped  home- 
spun for  dresses,  osnaburgs  for  field  hands,  and  a  still  heavier  cloth  for  bags,  wagon  covers  and 
grain  sheets. 

Woolen  goods  were  woven  from  the  heavy  jeans  of  unpicked  wool,  sometimes  with  a  warp 
of  cotton,  to  a  smoother  finished  article  from  fleece  which  had  been  picked  and  washed,  and 
carded,  until  the  bats  were  as  soft  as  down.  Blankets,  piano  covers,  and  covers  for  furniture, 
whose  former  upholstering  of  plush  or  satin  had  succumbed  to  wear  and  tear  of  time,  were 
created  with  taste  and  ingenuity.  Carpets  and  rugs  were  woven  from  woolen  scraps,  and  where 
the  colors  were  tastefully  chosen,  were  not  only  comfortable,  but  gave  to  the  apartments  where 
they  were  laid  an  air  of  cheerful  elegance. 

From  the  loom  room,  or  store  house,  the  cloth  was  taken,  as  the  occasion  demanded,  to  the 
sewing  room,  where  it  was  deftly  fashioned  into  finished  garments,  the  very  buttons  being  made 
of  wooden  forms,  covered  with  cloth  of  becoming  color. 

This  is  the  story  plainly  told,  and  without  exaggeration. 

Recalling  in  memory  the  thirty  years  which  have  intervened,  I  can  see  the  master  now,  after 
the  labors  of  a  long  summer  day,  sitting  upon  his  vine-clad  porch  with  his  wife  and  little  ones 
around  him.  A  spirit  of  happiness  and  content  takes  possession  of  him  as  he  realizes  that  his 
work  has  been  successful,  and  that  his  loved  ones  and  his  slaves  have  been  comfortably  fed  and 


56  DIVERSIFIED   AGRICULTURE    AND    MANUFACTURE. 

clothed ;  that  his  store  rooms  are  full,  and  the  crops  promise  an  abundant  harvest  for  another 
year. 

The  cow  boys  drive  the  lowing  cattle  to  the  pen,  where  soon  from  generous  udders,  rich 
streams  will  fill  the  milk  pails  full.  The  tinkle  of  the  bells  blended  with  the  distant  bleat  of 
sheep,  the  squealing  and  grunting  of  hogs,  as  Harbeet  with  melodious  voice  calls  them  to  their 
evening  meal,  make  sweet  music  on  the  listening  ear. 

Darkness  descends  upon  the  old  plantation,  and  hides  from  human  eyes  the  sweetest  picture 
of  peace,  contentment  and  prosperity  ever  seen. 

To  tell  the  story  is  to  draw  the  lesson.  What  was  accomplished  then  may  be  again 
achieved,  at  least  in  so  far  as  the  exigencies  of  the  times  require. 

The  growing  of  cotton  alone  is  no  longer  profitable.  The  farmer  whose  smoke-house  and 
grainery  is  in  the  West ;  whose  spinners  and  weavers  are  in  the  East,  can  no  longer  produce 
enough  cotton  to  buy  the  bare  necessaries  of  life,  and  none  of  the  luxuries. 

Putnam  County,  being  among  the  first  to  learn  this  lesson,  has  diversified  her  agricultural 
pursuits,  and  is  rapidly  becoming  happy  and  prosperous.  Her  lands,  as  productive  as  any  under 
the  sun,  will  produce  in  bountiful  harvests  everything  necessary  to  the  comfort  and  happiness 
of  her  people.  Her  people,  industrious,  intelligent,  and  law  abiding,  gladly  welcome  in  their 
midst  the  same  class  of  people  from  every  section,  without  prejudice  or  discrimination,  and 
who  seeks  a  home,  where  he  and  his  children  may  prosper  and  be  happy,  can  find  none  more 
desirable. 


RESIDENCE  OP  DR.  H.  H.  COGBURN,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


EATONTON  ACADEMY. 


Educational  Advantages— Public  Free  School  System. 


BY  M.  B.  DENNIS, 
County  School  Commissioner. 

Putnam  county  offers  to  those  prospecting  for  future  homes  educational  advantages 
-equalled  by  no  other  county  in  the  State  not  operated  under  a  special  system. 

The  Board  of  Education  is  composed  of  educated  and  progressive  men.  Knowing  the  value 
of  education,  and  fully  realizing  the  evils  that  must  inevitably  follow  indifferent,  to  say  nothing 
of  poor,  intellectual  training,  the  Board  is  bending  every  energy  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  public 
schools  of  the  county.  Again,  appreciating  the  fact  that  whatever  intellectual  training,  or  pre- 
paration for  life,  a  great  majority  of  the  youth  of  the  country  is  receiving  to-day  at  the  hands  of 
our  public  schools,  is  about  all  they  will  probably  ever  get,  owing  to  the  fact  that  so  many  of 
the  farmer-boys  are  forced  to  work  in  the  farms  to  the  unfortunate  neglect  of  their  education, 
as  well  as  to  that  spirit  of  indifference  that,  sad  to  say,  is  swaying  the  conduct  of  so  many  peo- 
ple all  over  this  broad  land  of  ours,  in  this  department  of  duty  and  activity,  the  Board  is  doing 
all  it  can  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  these  schools  and  raise  them  to  that  plane  of  dignity  and 
usefulness  they  should  occupy.  This  statement  may  surprise  some,  but  it  need  not  when  it  is 
known  that  in  the  United  States  "ninety-six  pupils  in  everyone  hundred  enrolled  are  studying 
elementary  studies;  less  than  three  in  a  hundred  are  in  secondary  studies  in  high  schools,  acad- 


6O  EDUCATIONAL    ADVANTAGES. 

emies,  and  other  institutions;  only  one  in  a  hundred  is  in  a  college  or  school  tor  higher  studies;" 
showing  conclusively  that  very  few  children  ever  get  beyond  the  elementary  branches.  But 
while  this  is  in  the  main  true,  Putnam  county  can  show  a  goodly  number  of  boys  and  girls  in 
attendance  upon  high  schools  and  colleges,  and  this  number  is  gradually  increasing.  This  point 
of  definiteness  in  education  and  special  preparation  for  the  work  of  life  is  being  specially  stressed 
in  the  public  schools  of  Putnam  county  just  now,  and  in  the  near  future  will  no  doubt  result  in 
good  to  the  children.  The  people  of  the  county  are  unusually  awakened  to  the  importance  of 
the  work,  and  are  cheerfully  and  liberally  co-operating  with  the  Board  of  Education  in  all  its 
efforts  to  better  the  system.  And  the  system  is  strengthening  and  improving  each  year.  Then 
there  is  an  evident  growing  interest  on  the  part  of  the  people.  Gradually,  but  surely,  the 
standard  is  being  raised,  and  the  usefulness  of  the  schools  increased.  As  the  summers  come 
and  go,  the  percentage  of  children  in  attendance  is  increased  And  it  is  the  fixed  purpose  of 
all  concerned,  before  many  winters  roll  away,  to  have  Putnam  present,  in  fact  as  well  as  theory, 
a  solid  front  against  ignorance  and  all  its  attendant  evils. 

Believing  that  the  concentration  of  patrons,  children  and  money  would  naturally  result  in 
power  and  force,  and  that  these  were  contingent  upon  a  rational  decrease  in  the  number  of 
schools,  the  Board  of  Education,  under  section  24  of  the  public  school  laws,  sub-divided  the 
county  into  fourteen  sub-school  districts.  In  each  of  these,  and  at  a  point  most  convenient  for 
the  people  of  the  districts,  one  school  for  the  whites  and  just  as  few  for  the  colored  race  as  are 
actually  necessary,  were  located.  Under  this  plan  the  county  has  fourteen  white  and  twenty- 
four  colored  schools;  and  only  these  are  recognized. 

The  advantages  of  this  consolidation  plan  are  several.     I.  It  enables  the  Board  of  Educa- 


PHCENIX  ACADEMY,  PUTNAM  COUNTY,  GA. 


SCHOOL  AT  ROCKVILLE  ACADEMY,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


EDUCATIONAL    ADVANTAGES.  63 

tion  to  offer  six  months  public  term  to  the  children  of  the  county.  This  is  one  month  more 
than  is  offered  by  any  other  county  in  the  State  not  under  a  special  system.  2.  The  people, 
thoroughly  aroused,  are  voluntarily  taxing  themselves  each  year  to  raise  a  supplemental  fund 
with  which  to  operate  the  schools  from  three  to  four  months  longer  than  the  regular  six  month's 
public  term.  Under  the  plan  of  consolidation  this  burden  is  decreased  by  the  cost  of  one 
month's  expense.  3.  Again,  under  this  plan  good  teachers  can  be  secured,  for  not  only  better 
salaries  can  be  paid,  but  longer  periods  of  work  are  afforded  them.  It  is  proverbial  that  Put- 
nam's teachers  are  far  in  advance  of  those  of  the  average  counties  of  the  State. 

The  public  school  fund  for  the  entire  State  for  1895  ls  $1,156,052.  This,  under  the  law,  is 
prorated  to  each  county  in  school  population  of  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and  eighteen. 
Putnam's  prorata  share  is  about  $10,000.  This  is  paid  by  the  Board  of  Education  to  teachers 
under  the  law  on  the  salary  plan. 

The  public  schools  usually  open  early  in  January  of  each  year  and  are  taught  in  two  terms 
The  school  buildings  are  all  neat,  comfortable,  and  are  supplied  with  easy,  modern  seats  and 
desks. 

The  school  population  of  the  county  according  to  the  census  of  1893  ls>  white  1,097,  colored 
3,800.  The  attendance  upon  the  public  schools  for  1894  among  the  whites  was  868.  From  this 
it  is  seen  that  about  20  per  cent,  only  of  the  white  children  do  not  attend  school.  This  number 
is  almost  wholly  confined  to  those  boys  and  girls  from  16  to  18  years  of  age  who  have  either 
married  or  for  some  other  cause  have  quit  the  schools  and  settled  down  to  work.  This  is  co»- 
sidered  a  good  exhibit  when  compared  with  the  attendance  for  the  United  States.  The  statis- 
tics for  the  States  show  that  31  per  cent,  of  children  of  school  age  do  not  attend  school.  When 


64  EDUCATIONAL    ADVANTAGES. 

it  is  understood  that  in  the  East  and  most  of  the  Western  States  where  the  population  is  so 
compact  and  the  schools  so  convenient,  and  in  some,  free  delivery  of  children  during  the  winter 
months  is  practiced,  our  exhibit  is  simply  remarkable. 

But  while  Putnam's  public  school  system  is  good — the  best,  so  said,  in  the  State — Putnam 
is  cognizant  of  the  fact  that  the  goal  is  not  yet  reached,  and  will  not — cannot — rest  contented. 
If  anything  better  can  be  attained  it  must  be  realized.  There  is  already  a  movement  on  foot  to 
secure  a  regular  nine  month's  special  system.  This  will  necessitate  specific  taxation  of  about 
three-eighth's  of  I  per  cent.  But  the  people  are  ready,  willing  and  anxious  for  anything  that 
offers  better  educational  facilities.  The  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  system  is  strong  and  is  daily 
growing.  When  it  shall  become  a  law,  the  funds  for  this  purpose  will  warrant  the  employment 
of  the  best  talent  the  land  affords.  The  advantages  will  be  unsurpassed  by  any 
county.  With  her  country  schools  thus  established  on  a  sure,  solid  basis;  and  with  a  strong, 
central  school  of  high  grade  at  Eatonton,  the  county  site,  from  which  her  sons  and  daughters 
may  pass  into  college,  Putnam  may  well  and  truly  be  called  the  banner  county  of  the  State. 

The  curriculum  of  the  Eatonton  Academy  (a  free  public  school,  of  the  highest  degree  of 
modern  equipment)  is  as  high  as  any  school  in  the  South,  to  which  are  added  departments  of 
Music,  Art,  Elocution  and  Physical  Culture,  in  charge  of  competent  instructors. 


Public  Road  System,  and  Taxation  for  County  Purposes. 

BY  W.  H.  HEARN, 

Chairman  Board  of  Commissioners. 

PUBLIC    ROAD    SYSTEM    AND    TAXATION. 

The  public  roads  of  Putnam  county  are  under  the  direction  and  control  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Roads  and  Revenues  of  said  county. 

Power  and  control  over  the  public  roads  were  conferred  upon  the  Commissioners  of  Roads 
and  Revenues  by  the  act  of  October  2ist,  1891,  and  was  adopted  for  Putnam  by  the  grand  jury 
at  the  March  term  of  Superior  Court,  1892. 

In  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  law  the  Commissioners  of  Roads  and  Revenues 
adopted  and  published  certain  rules  which,  together  with  the  above  law,  constitute  the  road  law 
of  Putnam  county. 

Under  the  present  system  Putnam  county  is  divided  into  sixteen  road  districts  correspond- 
ing exactly  with  the  militia  districts.  In  each  road  district  there  is  a  district  overseer,  con- 
tracted with  by  the  Commissioners,  who  has  charge  of  all  the  road  hands,  tools,  implements, 
etc.,  who  is  directly  responsible  to  the  Commissioners,  and  who  makes  regularly  his  report  to 
the  Commissioners  after  each  working  of  the  road. 

These  district  overseers  give  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  receipts  for 
all  tools  and  implements  used  on  the  roads,  and  are  required  at  the  end  of  each  year  to  render 
a  strict  account  of  all  such.  They  are  also  required  to  record  in  a  book,  kept  by  them  for  this 
purpose,  the  names  of  all  persons  in  their  district  subject  to  road  duty,  and  to  report  as 
defaulters  to  the  Commissioners  all  road  hands  summoned  to  work  and  failing  to  do  so. 


66  PUBLIC    ROAD    SYSTEM,    AND    TAXATION    FOR   COUNTY    PURPOSES. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  district  overseers  are  required  to  keep  receipt  books  with  stubs 
opposite  each  receipt,  for  the  commutation  tax  they  are  allowed  to  receive  from  road  hands 
in  lieu  of  road  service.  This  commutation  tax  is  paid  by  them  to  the  Commissioners,  accom- 
panied by  the  book  of  stub  receipts,  and  the  Commissioners  pay  the  same  into  the  County 
Treasury  to  the  account  of  public  roads.  The  Public  Road  fund  of  the  county  is  made  up  im 
this  manner  :  ist,  the  commutation  tax  above  referred  to,  which  is  money  in  lieu  of  road 
work;  2nd,  an  additional  general  ad  valorem  tax  of  two  mills  on  each  $i,oqf)  of  property  valua- 
tion, is  authorized  to  be  levied. 

In  addition  to  the  plan  of  road  work  by  districts,  we  have  a  special  road  gang  consisting  of 
an  overseer  and  about  ten  hands,  eight  mules,  one  yoke  oxen,  one  improved  road  machine,  wheel 
scrape,  wagons  and  other  tools. 

The  business  of  this  special  road  gang  is  to  build  and  repair  all  the  main  bridges,  put  in 
sewer  pipe  for  water  ways,  and  in  addition  to  this  to  do  all  the  road  work  they  can,  such  as 
macadamizing,  grading  and  blasting.  All  the  principal  roads  in  the  county  leading  to  Eatonton 
have  been  worked  and  graded  by  the  road  machinery  to  a  distance  on  each  of  seven  miles,  and 
are  in  the  most  excellent  condition  and  shape,  and  this  work  is  still  going  on. 

Our  public  roads  will  compare  favorably  with  the  very  best  in  Georgia. 

While  we  claim  better  roads  than  any  of  our  adjoining  counties,  our  tax  rate  is  as  low,  and 
in  some  instances  lower,  than  any  of  them,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  they  have  no  road 
system  so  complete  as  ours.  Our  tax  rate  for  all  county  purposes  is  only  6l/2  mills  per  Ckuujiuiil 
dollarl  of  property  valuation. 


RESIDENCE  OF  E.  B.  EZKLL,  EATONTON,  GA. 


RESIDENCE  OF  W.  E.  RA1NEY,  PUTNAM  COUNTY    GA. 


Trade,  Transportation  and  Banking. 


BY  E.  M.  BROWN. 

A. — TRADE. 

Eatonton  claims  to  be  one  of  the  best  business  towns  in  the  State,  and  that  she  is 
fully  entitled  to  that  claim,  is  duly  attested  by  her  own  people,  as  well  as  by  the  numerous  busi- 
ness men  who  constantly  visit  the  town,  soliciting  her  trade  in  their  respective  lines.  The  town 
has  long  enjoyed  this  well-earned  reputation,  and  its  commercial  importance  as  an  interior  point, 
population  considered,  has  but  few  equals  and  no  superior,  in  the  State.  This  record  bears  the 
impress  of  more  than  half  a  century,  and  is  duly  accredited  by  all  with  whom  she  has  business 
intercourse.  Her  business  men  are  recognized  throughout  the  country  as  men  of  established 
character  and  probity,  whose  conservative  methods  and  honest  dealing  have  gained  for  them  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  all  who  know  them. 

Situated  in  one  of  the  best  counties  in  the  State,  with  a  central  geographical  location,  and 
excelled  by  none  in  its  agricultural  resources,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  town  of  Eatonton 
should  enjoy  a  large  and  most  lucrative  trade.  In  substantiation  of  the  foregoing  statements, 
relative  to  the  financial  standing  of  the  mercantile  markets  of  Eatonton,  one  has  only  to  refer 
to  Bradstreet's  or  Dun's  commercial  agencies,  to  ascertain  that  their  commercial  rating  is  high; 
in  fact,  as  a  whole,  it  is  considerably  above  the  average  of  other  towns,  throughout  Georgia,  or 
the  South.  This  high  rating  of  Eatonton  merchants  is  of  incalculable  benefit  and  advantage, 


7O  TRADE,  TRANSPORTATION  AND  BANKING. 

not  only  to  themselves,  but  also  to  their  "customers  and  the  entire  community  of  interests 
touched  by  them.  With  an  established  credit  and  commercial  rating  fully  known  and  appre 
elated  by  both  the  small  and  large  markets  of  the  country,  they  are  not  restricted  in  the  selec- 
tion and  purchase  of  their  stocks  and  wares,  nor  hampered  by  the  restraints  imposed  by  a  con. 
tracted  credit;  to  the  contrary,  their  business  is  solicited  and  sought  after,  by  both  domestic  and 
foreign  dealers,  thereby  opening  to  them  the  choice  of  the  best  and  cheapest  goods  produced  in 
the  markets  of  the  world,  thus  enabling  them  to  give  to  their  customers  the  best  product  for  the 
least  money,  realizing  a  fair  and  legitimate  profit  for  themselves,  and  at  the  same  time  confer 
ring  upon  their  customers  the  inestimable  privilege  of  obtaining  the  best  goods  for  the  least 
money. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  merchants  of  Eatonton  have  an  established  advantage  in  this  respect 
over  many  of  their  would-be  competitors,  and  with  the  clear-sighted  policy  and  generous  dealing 
characteristic  of  the  wise  merchant,  they  make  their  patrons  the  participants  of  this  advantage, 
While  this  much  desired  state  of  affairs  exists,  it  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  it  is  the  re- 
sult of  accident  or  any  peculiar  condition  of  things,  other  than  that  born  of  pluck,  energy  and 
the  honest  effort  to  obtain  and  command  success. 

To  this  end  the  people  of  both  town  and  county,  aided  by  the  natural  advantages  afforded 
them,  have  harmoniously  and  systematically  wrought  together,  until,  with  justifiable  pride,  com- 
mendable Zealand  the  conscious  satisfaction  resulting  from  faithful  effort,  and  duty  well  per- 
formed, they  behold  the  work  of  their  united  efforts  crowned  with  that  success  which  they  sc 
richly  deserve,  and  they  can  truly  pronounce  good. 

There  are  twenty  houses  in  Eatonton  who  have  done,  the  past  five  (5)  years,  an  annual  re- 


RESIDENCE  OF  [MRS.JE.  H.  GARRARD.  NONA,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


SCHOOL  AT  SALEM  ACADEMY,  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


TRADE,    TRANSPORTATION    AND    BANKING.  73 

tail  trade  of  about  $500,000,  or  say  an  average  of  about  $25,000  each.  They  sell  every  article 
required  by  a  prosperous  community  of  15,000  souls.  This  annual  trade  of  $500,000  represents 
$33  !~3  Per  capita,  men,  women  and  children,  comprising  the  population  of  the  county,  thereby 
showing  a  producing  capacity  of  its  citizens,  of  which  its  people  are  justly  proud.  The  aggre- 
gate total  value  of  the  entire  property  of  the  county  being  about  $2,000,000,  her  people  make 
and  spend  each  year,  with  the  retail  merchants,  a  sum  equal  to  25  per  cent,  of  their  whole  prop- 
erty. It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  amount  does  not  include  a  large  amount  expended 
annually  outside  of  the  county;  the  large  amounts  in  the  nature  of  investments,  money  expended 
abroad,  and  the  value  of  supplies  raised  at  home  and  consumed  by  the  producer ;  all  of  which 
adds  largely  to  the  producing  capacity  of  the  country. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  facts,  is  it  not  a  pertinent  question  to  ask,  is  it  at  all  surprising! 
that  a  county  with  such  a  producing  capacity,  and  with  a  people  who  annually  spend  at  home 
an  amount  equal  to  25  per  cent,  of  their  whole  property,  is  much  appreciated  by  our  merchants 
as  a  potential  factor  in  making  and  sustaining  for  Eatonton  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the 
best  and  most  important  trade  points  in  the  State  ? 

B. — TRANSPORTATION. 

While  the  town  of  Eatonton  does  not  possess  altogether  the  transportation  facilities  which 
progessive  citizens  desire  for  her,  and  to  which  her  commercial  importance  would  seem  to  en- 
title her,  yet  the  conditions  are  so  much  improved  in  this  respect  to  what  they  were  a  few  years 
ago  that  her  people  are  hopeful  and  encouraged  to  believe  that  the  near  future  will  evolve  a  de- 
cided improvement  on  this  line.  Until  within  the  past  four  years  the  town  had  but  one  rail- 
road— the  Milledgeville  and  Eatonton  Branch — extending  from  Eatonton  to  Milledgeville,  dis- 


74  TRADE,    TRANSPORTATION    AND    BANKING. 

tance  of  twenty-two  miles,  and  operated  for  years  under  the  management  of  the  Georgia  Cen- 
tral system,  with  which  it  now  connects.  During  the  past  four  years  another  important  road 
has  been  added,  viz.:  The  Middle  Georgia  and  Atlantic  Railway,  a  line  about  forty-four  miles 
long,  running  to  Covington,  Ga.,  and  connecting  with  the  Georgia  Railroad  at  that  point.  This 
is  a  most  important  connection  for  the  town  of  Eatonton  and  the  people  of  the  surrounding 
country,  giving  to  them  another  outlet,  and  supplying  a  long-felt  want  to  the  business  necessi- 
ties of  this  section. 

The  people  now  feel  that  they  are  in  close  touch  with  the  outside  world,  and  that  there  is 
an  easy  ingress  and  egress  afforded  them,  not  formerly  enjoyed.  By  the  present  convenient 
schedules,  with  four  daily  passenger  trains,  one  having  business  in  the  city  of  Atlanta,  Ga., 
may  breakfast  in  Eatonton,  dine  in  Atlanta,  have  several  hours  for  business  or  pleasure  in  the 
city,  and  return  in  time  for  the  usual  supper  hour  in  Eatonton.  The  new  road  runs  through  one  of 
the  most  promising  sections  of  the  State,  and  is  fast  developing  the  latent  energies  and  resources 
of  a  people,  which  have  hitherto  remained  dormant.  This  road  traverses  about  ten  miles  of  the 
best  and  most  fertile  portion  of  the  county,  lands  not  only  productive,  but  eligibly  located  as  to 
schools,  churches  and  other  important  social  features,  thereby  opening  up  to  the  home-seeker 
one  of  the  most  inviting  fields  in  Middle  Georgia. 

Located  immediately  on  this  line  of  railway  and  only  three  miles  from  the  town  of  Eaton- 
ton  is  one  of  the  finest  water  powers  to  be  found  in  the  State,  whose  idle  forces  are  being  wasted 
day  by  day  for  the  want  of  capital  to  develop  and  utilize  its  active  and  far-reaching  possibilities. 
The  natural  location  and  environments  of  this  power  induce  us  to  believe  that  the  day  is  not 


KKSIDEMCE  OF  J.  T.  HOWARD,  WILLABD,  Pl'TXAM  CO.,  GA. 


RKSIDENCK  OF  SK  HI/TON  NAIMKR,  PUTNAM  COUNTY. 


TRADE,  TRANSPORTATION  AND  BANKING.  77 

far  distant  when  it  will  become  the  site  of  one  of  the  most  active  industries  in  this  section  of 
the  State. 

Putnam  County  lands  have  long  been  noted  for  their  superior  qualities  of  endurance  and  liberal 
response  which  they  make  to  the  intelligent  and  energetic  touch  of  the  husbandman,  in  almost 
every  line  of  agricultural  products  grown  in  the  South ;  and  both  practical  and  experimental 
tests  have  uniformly  shown  that  the  laborer  can  safely  count  on  the  soil  of  Putnam  County  doing 
its  full  duty  when  he  does  his  part. 

The  annual  shipments  of  cotton,  the  great  Southern  staple,  from  this  county,  are  large. 
The  receipts  at  this  point  alone  have  reached  as  high  as  17,000  bales  in  a  single  season.  The 
handling  of  this  large  product  by  the  railroads  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  revenue  to  them 
in  the  way  of  outgoing  shipments,  and  during  the  fall  and  winter  months,  it  presents  a  busy  and 
attractive  scene. 

C. — BANKING. 

Eatonton  has  two  banks,  with  a  combined  capital  and  surplus  of  $135,000,  operating  under 
State  charters,  having  been  organized  about  four  years  ago.  The  capital  stock  of  each  of  these 
institutions  was  subscribed,  and  is  owned  principally,  by  the  citizens  of  the  town  and  county 
and  are  essentially  home  institutions,  officered  and  directed  by  its  own  people.  While  the  man- 
agement of  both  these  banks,  since  their  formation,  has  been  eminently  conservative  and  based 
on  rigid  business  principles,  yet  the  greatest  liberality  consistent  with  sound  banking,  has  been 
extended  to  their  customers  and  the  public  generally,  and  they  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit 
in  aiding  and  promoting  the  private  and  public  welfare  of  its  citizens. 

Each  of  the  corporations  are  highly  esteemed  and  liberally  patronized  by  their  respective 


78  TRADE,  TRANSPORTATION  AND  BANKING. 

customers,  and  they  are  regarded  as  essential  factors  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  town  and  county,, 
and  the  promotion  of  the  general  welfare.  The  solvent  and  flourishing  condition  of  the  two 
banks  cannot  be  better  shown  than  by  reference  to  the  fact  that  both  of  them  were  organized 
in  the  midst  of  a  money  famine,  and  christened  during  a  period  of  depression,  such  as  this 
country,  with  few  exceptions,  has  ever  witnessed  ;  yet  in  the  face  of  these  adverse  circum- 
stances, their  growth  has  been  permanent  and  prominent,  and  their  credit  unquestioned  at  home 
and  abroad. 

A  brief  review  of  their  four  years'  work  will  show  that  each  has  added  20  per  cent,  to  its 
reserve  or  surplus  account,  and  that  each  has  disbursed  to  its  stockholders  in  dividends  27  per 
cent.,  making  47  per  cent,  in  net  earnings  by  each  in  a  period  of  four  years.  The  annual  dis- 
counts of  the  two  banks  aggregate  in  round  numbers,  $250,000. 

These  institutions  are  fast  growing  in  public  favor  and  confidence  and  are  now  recognized 
by  the  people  as  public  necessities  and  leading  factors  in  the  material  make-up  and  advancement 
of  town  and  county.  Since  the  establishment  of  these  banks  in  our  midst,  the  trade  interests 
of  our  community  have  in  a  manner  been  revolutionized,  and  the  trend  of  all  transactions  is 
in  the  direction  of  a  cash  basis.  When  this  devoutly  hoped-for  realization  is  attained,  as  ulti- 
mately it  will  be,  then  will  have  been  consummated  the  grand  triumph  of  the  cash  over  the  credit 
system,  and  both  buyer  and  seller  will  rejoice  in  the  new  order  of  things,  and  a  material  ad- 
vance in  prosperity  and  independence  will  be  established. 


.1.  T.  DKNNIS.  BAHN  AND  (  ATTI.K.  PUTNAM  CO.,  GA. 


SKELTOX  NAPIEE'S  MILL  AND  CATTLE,  PUTNAM  COUNTY',  GA. 


Law  and  Order. 


BY  JUDGE  W.  F.  JENKINS. 

Law  is  understood  to  be  a  rule  of  conduct.  This  rule  of  conduct  is  supposed  to  command 
what  is  right  and  to  prohibit  what  is  wrong.  When  the  grand  object  of  the  law  is  substantially 
accomplished,  that  is,  when  citizens  of  a  country  generally  do  what  is  right  and  abstain  from 
what  is  wrong,  it  may  be  expected  that  in  time,  in  such  country,  the  highest  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion will  be  attained  and  its  natural  resources  brought  to  the  highest  state  of  development.  On 
the  other  hand,  no  country,  however  unbounded  its  natural  resources,  can  really  become  great 
or  desirable  as  a  place  of  residence  where  a  disregard  of  law  exists,  or,  in  other  words,  where  one 
man  may  with  impunity  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  another. 

It  is  the  proud  boast  of  the  Empire  State  of  the  South  that  no  civilized  people  possess  a 
code  of  laws  more  just,  humane  and  beneficent  than  hers.  And  while  the  people  of  the  banner 
county  of  this  Empire  State,  if  less  modest,  might  boast  of  their  own  intelligence  and  culture 
and  while  proud  of  her  generous  soil,  her  genial  climate,  her  splendid  timber,  her  rippling 
streams  and  her  capacity  for  supplying  almost  every  product  of  the  soil  needed  by  man  or  beast, 
there  is  nothing  of  which  she  is  prouder  than  the  fact  that  nowhere,  perhaps,  where  civiliza- 
tion has  planted  her  standard  is  law  more  reverenced  or  order  more  perfect  than  within  her  own 
borders.  That  this  happy  condition  exists  will  be  readily  understood  upon  a  careful  considerc- 
6 


82  LAW    AND    ORDER. 

tion  of  the  facts  elsewhere  presented  with  reference  to  our  schools  and  churches  and  their  nat- 
ural product,  a  temperance  sentiment,  which  many  years  ago  culminated  in  the  entire  prohibi- 
tion of  the  sale  of  all  kinds  of  liquors  in  the  county. 

It  is  said  that  officers  are  powerless  to  enforce  law  in  opposition  to  public  sentiment.  If 
this  be  true,  the  faithful  observance  by  the  people  generally  and  the  complete  enforcement  by 
the  officers  of  this  prohibition  law  attest  the  strong  and  healthy  sentiment  at  its  back.  But,  it 
is  said,  facts  speak  louder  than  words.  A  reference  to  the  court  records  of  the  county  makes 
assurance  doubly  sure.  With  a  population  of  about  fifteen  thousand  and  a  taxable  property 
amounting  to  about  two  millions  of  dollars  in  value,  including  about  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  acres  of  land,  the  records  of  the  Superior  Court,  the  only  court  having  by  law  general 
and  appellate  jurisdiction,  show  that  during  the  eight  years  preceding  the  present  year  only 
eighty-one  suits  were  brought  on  notes  and  accounts,  four  appeals  and  certioraris  from  lower 
courts,  nine  divorce  suits,  (one  being  between  white  persons  and  eight  between  colored)  and 
three  damage  suits  between  individuals.  Of  the  81  suits  on  notes  and  accounts  about  fifty  per 
cent,  were  brought  in  closing  up  the  estate  of  a  deceased  merchant,  consisting  largely  of  paper 
assets  upon  which  about  $150,000  in  cash  was  realized.  Most  of  the  remaining  fifty  per  cent, 
were  not  litigated  and  went  to  judgment  by  default.  This  small  amount  of  litigation  in  eight 
years  demonstrates  that  our  people  are  not  litigious.  During  the  same  eight  years  there  were 
only  seventeen  colored  persons  convicted  of  felony,  generally  of  some  low  grade,  and  only  two 
charges  of  felony  were  preferred  against  white  people,  in  each  of  which  there  was  an  acquittal. 
The  semi-annual  sessions  of  the  Superior  Court  for  many  years  have  rarely  occupied,  in  actual 
labor,  more  than  from  two  to  three  days  each.  The  white  and  colored  races  sustain  to  each 


LAW    AND    ORDER.  83 

other  the  most  friendly  relations.  A  drunken  man  upon  the  streets  of  Eatonton  would  excite 
universal  surprise.  Many  years  ago  The  Sons  of  Temperance  erected  at  the  county  site 
(Eatonton)  a  handsome  two  story  brick  building,  known  as  Temperance  Hall,  which  stands 
to-day  a  monument  to  their  wisdom  and  a  reminder  of  their  good  work.  Perhaps  the  most  con- 
clusive evidence  of  the  high  order  of  culture  and  refinement  existing  in  our  midst  may  be  found 
in  the  almost  total  disuse  of  profane  and  vulgar  language  by  our  people.  It  would  be  safe,  per- 
haps, to  say  that  not  one  white  citizen  in  five  hundred  ever  uses  a  profane  or  vulgar  word  upon 
jhe  public  streets  or  at  public  gatherings  of  any  character.  The  writer  cannot  recall  when  he 
has  heard  a  white  man  use  language  of  this  character. 

Georgia,  as  has  been  stated,  boasts  of  a  code  of  laws  just  and  wise,  protecting  all  of  her 
citizens  of  every  condition  alike.  They  are  available  in  behalf  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
creditor  and  the  debtor,  the  employers  and  the  employees,  the  landlord  and  the  tenant.  A  very 
brief  summary  of  the  leading  provisions  intended  to  protect  these  several  classes  will  demon- 
strate the  truth  of  what  is  claimed  for  Georgia  laws. 

1.  In  the  event  of  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  family  provision  is  made  for  the  support 
of  the  widow  and  minor  children  for  twelve  months.     The  widow  is  also  allowed  dower  out  of 
the  real  estate. 

2.  In  the  event  of  misfortune  each  head  of  a  family,  or  guardian,  or  trustee  of  a  family  of 
minor  children  and  every  aged  or  infirm   person   or   persons  having  the  care  and  support  of 
dependent  females  of  any  age  is  entitled  to  a  homestead  of  realty  or  personalty,  or  both,  of  the 
aggregated  value  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars  to  be  exempt  from  levy  and  sale.     This  exemption 
may  be  waived  by  contract.] 


LITTLE  RIVER.    Site  of  old  Eatonton  Factory,  built  ip  1833.    Within  200  yards  of  the  Railroad.    Fall  25  ft. 


LAW   AND   ORDER.  8|> 

3.  Creditors  are  allowed  to  contract  for  ample  security  by  mortgage,  reservation  of  title  of 
property  sold,  etc.,  on  the  one  hand,  while  debtors  on  the  other  are  allowed  the  freest  resort  to 
all  legal  defenses.     The  courts  by  the  constitution  of  the  State  are  thrown  open  to  all  alike, 
and  the  poorest,  without  even  the  payment  of  costs,  -may  litigate  from  the  court  of  the  justice 
of  the  peace  to  the  court  of  last  resort. 

4.  The  landlord,  upon  the  one  hand,  is  given  a  special  preferred  lien  upon  the  crops  of  all 
kinds  raised  upon  his  land  for  the  payment  of  his  rent.  The  tenant,  upon  the  other  hand,  by  reason 
of  this  lien,  may  obtain  credit  for  a  home  and  shelter  for  his  family,  however  poor  he  may  be. 

5.  The  employer  is  released  by  law  from  obligation  to  pay  the  laborer  who,  without  cause, 
abandons  his  contract  before  its  termination,  while  the  faithful  laborer  who  fulfills  his  contract 
is  given  by  law  a  special  lien  upon  the  products  of  his  labor  and  a'general  lien  upon  the  other 
property  of  the  employer  for  the  payment  of  his  wages.     All  daily,  weekly  and  monthly  wages 
of  journeymen,  mechanics  and  day  laborers  are  exempt  from  process  of  garnishment. 

6.  The  owner  of  improved  property,  while  allowed  all  legitimate  defenses  and  means  of 
asserting  them,  upon  the  one  hand,  the  mechanic,  the  material  man  and  mason  are  allowed  a 
superior  lien,  upon  the  other  hand,  upon  the  property  erected  or  improved,  which  may  be 
enforced  any  time  within  twelve  months  from  the  creation  of  the  debt. 

7.  Usury  is  prohibited,  imprisonment  for  debt  is  forbidden  by  the  constitution,  religious 
services  are  amply  provided  for. 

8.  Taxation  by  the  State,  cities,  towns  and  counties  is  fixed  within  certain  low  limits  by 
the  constitution  of  the  State,   thus  assuring  the  citizens  against  profligacy  and  waste  by  the 
taxing  forces. 


86 


LAW    AND    ORDER. 


9.  The  laws  of  the  State  are  entrusted  only  to  "  upright  and  intelligent  "  jurors  f 
administration.  That  our  jurors  are  of  this  class  is  demonstrated  by  the  almost  universal  c< 
rectness  of  the  verdicts  reached  by  them. 

W.  F.  JENKINS. 


MAP  OF  PUTNAM  COUNTY,  GA. 


i  BUSINESS. 


REVIVAL  OF  BUSINESS. 


JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


NOTK. — The  preceding  matter  had  been  arranged  for  publication,  the  type 
ahd  been  set.  and  the  press  was  waiting  for  work,  when  the  widely  known 
Southern  author,  Joel  Chandler  Harris,  by  special  request,  handed  in  an 
article  which  appears  below.  Born  and  reared  in  the  county  which  we  have 
endeavored,  in  part,  to  illustrate  in  this  little  pamphlet,  and  for  which  he  has 
always  shown  so  great  an  attachment,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  should  con- 
sent, after  a  manner,  to  be  associated  with  his  old  home  friends  in  this  effort 
to  enable  others  to  see  Putnam  county  as  we  see  it. 

Our  people  feel  jrreat  pride  in  the  success  »f  Mr.  Harris,  and  fairly  claim 
that  his  literary  achievements  are  a  part  of  the  "resources"  of  our  county. 


"UNCLE  REMUS" 

HAS  A  WORD  TO  SAY  OF  PUTNAM  AS  IT  WAS  AND  IS. 


Uncle  Remus  met  an  old 
Putnam  county  man  on  the 
street  the  other  day,  when 
something  like  the  follow- 
ing talk  ensued  : 

"  Marse  Dave,  dey  tells 
me  dat  our  folks  gwineter 
git  out  a  sho'  nuff  book 
'bout  what  we  all  got  down 
dar." 


"Well,  not  a  book,  precisely,  but  a  neat  little  pamphlet." 
The  old  man  shook  his  head. 

"  I  don't  see  how  dat  kin  be,  kaze  ef  dey  aint  gwine  to  get  out 
a  book,  howde  name  er  goodness  kin  dey  tell  what  we  all  got  down 


UNCLE  ;REMUS." 


UNCLE  REMUS  HAS  A  WORD  TO  SAY  ABOUT  PUTNAM  COUNTY.  QI 

dar  ?  I  boun'  you,  right  now,  dat  I  kin  set  down  on  dish  yer  water-plug  an'  fling  my  head  back 
an'  shet  my  eyes  an'  tell  mo'  'bout  Putmon  county  dan  what  you  kin  put  in  two  books.  How 
you  gwine  ter  collapse  her  up  so  dat  she'l  go  in  one  er  deze  pamphlys  ? " 

"  Well,  some  of  your  old  friends  down  there  have  written  little  articles,  and  they  are  to  be 
put  in  a  paper  pamphlet.  But  it  will  be  a  pretty  one.  Mr.  Hunt  "- 

"  Gentermen  !  "  interrupted  Uncle  Remus,  "  dat  ar  man  sholy  is  got  fine  cows.  Down  dar 
fo'  de  war  we  aint  had  no  fine  cows  like  dat.  One  time  Mass  Billy  Edmondson  had  forty-eleven 
cows  all  milkin'  at  one  time,  an'  dey  didn't  give  but  'bout  sixteen  gallons  er  milk  a  day — an* 
dem  ar  cows  wuz  in  about  de  best  in  de  county." 

"Well,  Mr.  Hunt  is  going  to  write  about  the  dairy,  and  all  about  the  fine  cows."  Here  the 
old  man  gave  a  grunt  of  satisfaction,  and  his  Marse  Dave  went  on  to  enumerate  the  names  of 
all  the  gentlemen  who  had  contributed  to  the  pamphlet,  and  the  subjects,  some  of  which  Uncle 
Remus  did  not  understand.  When  Dr.  Nisbet's  name  was  reached  he  said  : 

"  Dat  ar  man  sholy  do  know  how  to  give  folks  truck  fer  der  ailnesses.  I  wuz  gwine  'long 
de  street  one  day,  jest  er  gruntin'  an'  grumblin',  and  he  tuck  en  call  me  in  his  office  an'  cut  off 
de  red  flannel  string  what  I  had  on  my  arm,  an'  den  he  gi'  me  a  bottle  er  truck  what  tas'e  like 
dat  ar  gallwood  an'  worms  what  you  read  about.  Arter  dat  de  aches  in  de  jints  quit  der  hurtin' 
an'  I  aint  never  had  none  twel  'long  about  year  'fo'  last." 

But  at  the  end  of  it  all,  there  was  a  dissatisfied  look  on  Uncle  Remus'  face,  so  much  so, 
that  the  gentleman  to  whom  he  was  talking  asked  him  what  the  trouble  was. 

"  Marse  Dave,"  he  said  quite  seriously,  "aint  dey  nothin'  'tall  in  dat  are  pamphly  'bout  de 
blackjack  possums  what  dey  ketch  down  dar  on  de  river,  rangin'  you  may  say  fnm  de  Turner 


92  UNCLE  REMUS  HAS  A  WORD  TO  SAY  ABOUT  PUTNAM  COUNTY. 

plantation  ter  de  Kinch  Little  place  ?"  When  told  that  such  a  thing  would  be  out  of  order,  he 
shook  his  head,  saying  :  "Wheat  bread  mighty  good,  dey  aint  no  'sputin'  dat,  but  its  lots  bet- 
ter wid  de  gravy.  Look  like  ter  me  dat  folks  'd  like  ter  know  whar  ter  git  ginnywine  black- 
jack possum — mo'  speshually  folks  what  knowns  'zackly  what  dey  want  when  dey  gits  hongry. 
I  kin  shet  my  eyes  right  tight  an'  tas'e  de  blackjack  possum  right  now." 

*'  I'm  sorry  about  the  'possum,"  said  the  gentleman,  "but  it  can't  be  helped  now." 
"  Oh,  I  know'd  you  couldn't  git  in  eve'ything  'bout  Putmon  county.     You  may  set  down 
an'  write  an'  write,  but  folks  can't  tell  nothin'  'tall  'bout  a  place  like  dat  twel  dey  go  dar  an'  see 
wid  der  own  eyes  an'  hear  wid  der  own  years.     I  been  wishin'  I  wuz  back  dar  dis  many  a  lone- 
some day.     Tell  'em  all  howdy  down  dar  when  you  see  "em." 
With  that  the  old  man  sighed  and  went  off  down  the  street. 

JOEL  CHANDLER  HARRIS. 


1352  acres  3  miles  West  Of  Eatontpn,  on  the  waters  of  Little  River  and 
Glady  Creek— 500  acres  in  cultivation,  100  of  it  being  in  bottom  land  seldom  over- 
flowed. A  fine  location  for  stock  farm.  Now  has  twelve  plows  making  Cotton,  Corn, 
etc.  Water  good,  healthy  locality,  good  neighbors.  Adjoining  waterpower  of  old 
factory  and  Buckner's  Wheat  and  Grist  Mill.  Plenty  of  house  room;  public  road 
through  the  place;  one-quarter  of  a  mile  from  M.  G.  &  A.  R.  R.  Tree  growth — oak, 
hickory  and  pine. 

41  7  acres  6  miles  West  Of  EatontOn,  mostly  upland,  but  well  watered. 
Land — red  and  gray,  suitable  for  Corn,  Cotton,  Wheat,  Oats,  Fruit,  etc.  Has  good 
two-story,  six-room  house,  besides  houses  for  tenants,  within  a  mile  of  school  and 
church;  good  neighbors,  good  water,  healthy  locality;  is  on  pu  lie  road  one  mil* 
from  M.  G.  &  A.  R.  R.  Tree  growth— oak,  hickory,  pine,  etc. 

225  acres  8  miles  SOUth-West  Of  EatontOn,  on  public  road.  Land-red 
and  gray.  Two  horse  farm  now  in  Corn,  Cotton,  etc.  Land,  high,  rolling,  but  not 
hilly;  good  neighborhood;  near  school,  church  and  mills.  Tree  growth — pines. 
Houseroom  sufficient.  ' 

22O   acres   13  miles  south-west  of    Eatonton  and  6   miles 

east  Of  HillsborO,  on  M.  G.  &  A.  R.  R.  Land— red  and  gray,  level, suitable 
for  Corn,  Cotton,  etc.  Good  water;  locality  healthy;  two  horse  farm  in  cultivation. 
Tree  growth— oak,  hickory,  pine.  Enough  house  room  for  tenants. 

2OO  acres  1  O  miles  east  Of  EatOntpn,  on  public  road.  Soil— red  and  gray. 
Water  good;  good  neighbors;  healthy  location;  good  school  one  mile  away.  Has  one 
horse  farm  now  in  cultivation  of  Corn,  Cotton,  etc.  Tree  growth,  principally  pine. 

1  56  acres  6  miles  north  Of  EatontOn  in  good  neighborhood.  Land— gray, 
slightly  rolling;  has  two  horse  farm  in  Cotton,  Corn,  etc.  Healthy  locality,  one- 
half  mile  from  public  road.  Tree  growth — Oak  and  pine. 

567  acres  7  miles  north-west  of   Eatonton  and  known  as 

PearSOn  Place.  Land  slightly  rolling,  grey  and  red;  well  watered,  suitable 
for  Corn,  Cotton,  Wheat,  Oats,  Fruit,  etc.  300  acres  open,  150  in  cultivation  thi« 
year.  Tree  growth  is  oak,  hickory  pine,  etc.  Hus  large  eight  room,  two  story 
house,  besides  houses  for  tenants;  is  a  splendid  home  on  a  good  road  1%  miles 
fromM.  G.  &  A.  R.  R.,  and  has  church  and  school. 

1  5O  acres  7}£  miles  north-west  of  Eatonton,  known  as  Head 

Place.  Land— gray,  with  some  red,  suitable  for  Corn,  Cotton,  Fruit,  etc.;  a  con- 
siderable part  of  it  in  Cotton,  Corn,  etc.,  this  year;  has  an  eight  room,  two  story 
house,  besides  houses  for  tenants.  Good  water,  healthy  locality.  Tree  growth— oak, 
hickory  and  pine.  Only  one  mile  from  M.  G.  &  A.  R.  R.,  by  nearly  level  road,  conve- 
nient to  church  and  school. 

FOR  ANY   OR  ALL.  OF   THESE   LANDS,    APPL.Y   TO 

ROBERT  YOUNG,  Eatonton,  da. 


For  Sale  1,400  Aeres 


OF  FINE  PUTNAM  CO.  RIVER  LANDS 
situated  on  the  Oconee  River  and  Rooty 
Creek.  Three  or  four  hundred  acres  of  fine 
river  and  creek  bottoms  well  set  in  Bermuda 
grass ;  some  fine  meadows,  good  six-room 
dwelling,  large  barn,  gin  house,  twenty-five 
tenants  and  servants'  houses,  five  good  settle- 
ments ;  also,  large  store  house  and  good  trade 
to  the  store ;  a  well  improved  and  desirable 
place.  Price  $6.00  per  acre.  Will  take  pleas- 
ure in  showing  the  place. 

W.  G.  ARMOR,  GREENESBORO,  GA. 


For  Sale  1,000  Aeres 


OF  FINE  FARM  LANDS  one  mile  from  Dennis 
Station,  in  this  county,  near  church  and  public 
school.  Would  make  a  grand  peach  or  grape 
farm.  Price,  $5.00  per  acre.  Location  worth  the 
price.  Come  and  inspect  it. 

Also,  400  acres  of  fresh  and  new  land,  extra  fine, 
one-fourth  mile  from  Dennis  Station  ;  near  church 
and  public  schools.  Will  grow  anything  that 
will  grow  in  middle  Georgia.  Well  and  beauti- 
fully terraced  ;  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
Will  take  $15.00  per  acre  ;  worth  $25.00  acre. 
Address  R.  R.  &  W.  T.  GARRARD, 

EATONTON,  GA. 


W.  T.  DAVISON, 

LAWYER, 
EATONTON,  GA. 


Will  practice  in  the  courts  of  Putnam  and  ad- 
joining counties.  Business  solicited,  strict 
attention  will  be  given  to  it.  Prompt  atten- 
tion to  collections. 


SOUTHEASTERN  BOOK   DEPOSITORY 
M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH. 


Methodist  Book  and  Publishing  Co. 

COOK  &  PEACOCK,  Managers. 

BOOKS  AND  STATIONERY, 
100  Whitehall  St.,  Atlanta,  Ga. 


Estimates  furnished  on  any  kind  of  book  or 
pamphlet  work.  Facilities  unexcelled  This 
booklet  is  a  specimen  of  our  work . 


"Uncle 
Remus" 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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